KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 27 — Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today declared at the High Court that he is not ashamed over his Indian heritage, but insisted that he is still a Malay.
Dr Mahathir, 99, also testified that he is defined as a Malay under Malaysia’s Federal Constitution.
“I’m not ashamed to say I have some Indian blood, but that does not mean that I’m not a Malay,” he said at one point of the court hearing today at the High Court here.
Later he said, that wherever he goes — including Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka — people there would claim him as one of their own, but said he was “not embarrassed” about such claims.
Dr Mahathir was testifying on his own behalf in his defamation lawsuit against Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi over the latter’s July 30, 2017 remarks that had implied his actual name was “Mahathir anak lelaki Iskandar Kutty”.
Asked by Zahid’s lawyer Mohamed Shahrul Fazli Kamarulzaman about Barry Wain’s biography Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times which described Dr Mahathir’s father as a Jawi Peranakan, Dr Mahathir said the book contained “many inaccuracies” including the Jawi Peranakan description, but did not bother to correct the writer as “he’s not very important”.
“There are many books written about me but I can’t be taking action against them when their reporting is not accurate,” he said, later noting that Wain did come to see him to ask him many questions but did not give him a copy of the book’s draft before it was published.
Instead, Dr Mahathir said that his father “Mohamad bin Iskandar” was “registered as a pure Malay” and was born in Penang, later adding that “Iskandar Kutty” is not his father’s other name.
He said the word “Iskandar” in his father’s name refers to his grandfather’s name “Iskandar”, later also disagreeing that his grandfather was called “Iskandar Kutty”.
Dr Mahathir also said he does not know whether it is his grandfather or great-grandfather who came from Kerala in India, as there are no records on this.
Dr Mahathir also said he had never discussed this with his father and his father also never told Dr Mahathir about the father’s past.
As the youngest and only one surviving out of his 10 siblings, Dr Mahathir said all his other siblings used “bin” or “binti Mohamad Iskandar” while his name is “bin Mohamad”. But he also said there are some who called him “Mahathir Mohamad Iskandar”.
Dr Mahathir said he had not done any research about his ancestry and that he was satisfied that his father’s name was Mohamad bin Iskandar.
“I never showed any interest or asked anybody to do any research about my ancestry,” he said.
Later, Dr Mahathir also said: “Yes, according to the definition of the Federal Constitution’s Article 160, I am a Malay and my cause is to defend the interests of my race.”
Under Article 160, a “Malay” means a person who professes the religion of Islam, habitually speaks the Malay language, and conforms to Malay custom.
In his lawsuit filed on July 20, 2022 at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur, Dr Mahathir wants the court to order Zahid to pay compensation and to give an unconditional apology, and also wants a court order to stop Zahid from repeating the defamatory remarks.
The hearing before judicial commissioner Gan Techiong resumes this afternoon.
