Mahathir Mohamad was born on July 10, 1925, in Alor Star in Malaysia, the youngest of nine children. His father Mohamad Iskandar was an English teacher with a reputation in the locality for being a strict disciplinarian, and in his youth Mahathir was an outstanding English student. Mahathir remained close to his family throughout his rise in politics and as an adult often reportedly sought the views and consent of his parents to important decisions he had to make in life as a gesture of his love and respect for them.

The Japanese occupation interrupted Mahathir's schooling but he weathered that storm by running a small business to make ends meet. Astonishing though it may seem to us today when Mahathir is looked upon as the imposing and intimidating grand old man of Asian politics -- he spent the occupation years running a road-side stall from where he sold cendol, a delicious Malaysian dessert of shaved ice and syrupy toppings, and both fresh and fried bananas, which could be either taken away or eaten at a nearby coffee shop.

After the occupation was bought to a close and Malaya was liberated by the Allied forces, Mahathir resumed his studies at the Sultan Abdul Hamid College in Alor Star and from there went on to study medicine at the King Edward VII Medical College in Singapore in 1947. Interestingly enough, Mahathir's original ambition was to study law and he even received a state government scholarship that would have enabled him to pursue legal studies in the UK. However, the government dismissed the idea of permitting him to study law in England on the grounds that there were enough lawyers in the country and instead directed him to study medicine, doctors being in short supply in Malaya at the time.

Mahathir received his medical degree in 1953 and, assisted by his wife, Dr. Siti Hasmah, whom Mahathir had met in medical college where they had been two of only a handful of ethnic Malay students, opened the first Malay clinic in Alor Star in 1957. Mahathir devoted the best part of the next decade to building up his medical practice and gained renown throughout the state of Kedah as a conscientious doctor who provided first-rate medical treatment to rich and poor alike.

But Mahathir had always been interested in politics, and it was only a matter of time before it became inevitable that a man of his inclination and talents should seek out a political stage for his ideas and ambitions.

Mahathir had been involved in politics since his school days when he was active in the anti-Malayan Union movement. Mahathir joined UMNO, the United Malay National Organization, in 1945, and in his twenties contributed articles and essays to the Straits Times of Singapore highlighting the plight of rural Malays.

In 1964 Mahathir was elected member of parliament for his local constituency of Kota Star Selatan and quickly established a reputation as an outspoken and unbending politician who stood up for what he believed in and was not afraid of speaking truth to power.

In fact, so outspoken was Mahathir in his criticism of the leadership within his own party that he was expelled from UMNO in 1969 after falling out with Tunku Abdul Rahman, the then-Prime Minister and head of UMNO over his public criticism of the party and its policies.

Mahathir was reinstated in 1972 and thereafter his rise to the top of Malaysian politics was swift.

He won back his seat in parliament in the 1974 general election and was appointed Education Minister in the incoming cabinet. He was elected to the vice-presidency of UMNO in 1975 and shortly thereafter was appointed Deputy Prime Minister by Prime Minister Tun Hussein Onn. In time, he rose to the position of chairman of the cabinet's investment committee and added the portfolio of Trade and Industry Minister.

He succeeded Tun Hussein Onn and became Malaysia's fourth Prime Minister on July 16, 1981 at the age of 55.

Mahathir's achievements as Malaysia's Prime Minister have been staggering and he leaves behind him an enviably stable and prosperous nation that serves as a model for others in the developing world. There is no doubt that the lion's share of credit for Malaysia's development over the past two decades must go to Mahathir for his visionary leadership that has bought Malaysia into the 21st century both metaphorically as well as literally.

As the one-time Education Minister, Mahathir understood how education was the key to development. His government bought all centres of higher learning under the guidance of the Education Ministry and the government's investments in education have provided the backbone for the remarkable economic and social transformations that have taken place in Malaysia.

Faced with his first economic crisis in 1985, Mahathir began the privatisation of the economy to lower the burden on government finances, opened the economy to direct foreign investment, and began the push for the industrialisation of the Malaysian economy. Malaysia was rewarded with over a decade of rapid growth that translated into the economic and social development of the nation on an unprecedented scale. Malaysia reached full employment and by the mid 1990s the government deficit had been transformed into a surplus.

These economic and social achievements were made possible by Mahathir's vision and foresight in understanding the steps that needed to be taken and the policies that needed to be instituted for Malaysia to develop. But the achievements of his tenure can to no lesser extent be also attributed to Mahathir's courage and the strength of his leadership and commitment to seeing his programmes through.

Malaysia is today a prosperous and secure developing country with a per capita annual income of over $4000. It was Mahathir's astute sponsorship of education and industrialisation together with his government's massive investment in infrastructure and high-tech projects that transformed Malaysia from an agricultural backwater to a modern industrial giant with the 17th largest economy in the world.

The biggest crisis of Mahathir's tenure as Prime Minister came during the Asian currency crisis of 1997-1998 that devastated the South East Asian economy. Mahathir was roundly castigated in the West for refusing to follow the prescriptions set forth by the IMF and World Bank for dealing with the crisis. As the ringgit plummeted in value against the dollar and the Malaysian stock exchange went into free-fall, Mahathir confounded his critics by imposing currency controls and pegging the rate of exchange for the ringgit. However, he was proved right as Malaysia weathered the economic storm far better and emerged from the crisis far quicker than the other countries in the region that had permitted themselves into being bullied into accepting the IMF and World Bank prescriptions for survival.

The aftermath of the crisis also provided the darkest hour of Mahathir's 22 year rule, when he jailed his Deputy Prime Minister and seemingly hand-picked successor, Anwar Ibrahim, on trumped-up charges of sodomy. Ibrahim's political ambitions and independence of mind were no secret and his supporters had led the charge against Mahathir's policies at the UMNO general assembly in 1998. Ibrahim most publicly broke with Mahathir over the latter's prescription for weathering the then-raging currency crisis and there can be little doubt that his subsequent farcical show-trial and imprisonment were precipitated by his challenge to Mahathir's leadership.

Certainly Mahathir has always had an authoritarian strain to him. He does not suffer fools gladly -- nor does he take criticism well or brook any opposition. Ibrahim was in fact the third of his deputies to fall by the way-side after clashing with Mahathir over his autocratic style.

Nor was the disgraceful sacking and imprisonment of Ibrahim Mahathir's only brush with controversy. His speech to the OIC summit in October created a fire-storm of controversy in Europe and the US for its anti-Semitism, and throughout his career Mahathir has often displayed a troubling antagonism to Jews and spoken out intemperately against what he believes to be Jewish domination of global politics and economics. It should be recalled that he blamed the currency crisis of the 1990s on Jews too.

But it would be a shame for Mahathir to be remembered principally for jailing Ibrahim and railing against "the Jews." His achievements as Malaysia's Prime Minister and courageous spokesman for the developing world far outweigh the negative.

On the global stage, Mahathir was a commanding presence and an outspoken critic of the Bretton Woods institutions and the economic and political domination of the world by the US and Europe. He has been strongly critical of the UN, calling for the veto powers of the permanent members of the Security Council to be abolished and replaced with a more equitable system of representation. In recent times, no world leader has been as powerful or as persuasive a critic of the US-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq than Mahathir.

Mahathir has also been a tireless promoter of "Asian values." He was the architect of Malaysia's "look East" policy and has spent his entire political career dedicated to the idea that Asia can compete with Europe and the US on level footing. Similarly, he has been a seminal figure in the Muslim world and his repeated exhortations to the Muslim ummah to overcome its weaknesses and take control of its own destiny have instilled pride in the hearts of Muslims all over the world and inspired in them the belief and confidence that they too can aspire to great things both individually and as a community.

This is Mahathir's great achievement. Not the economic and social miracle he has wrought in Malaysia -- and let no-one understate the magnitude of this astonishing feat -- but his vision that the developing world need not forever be dominated economically, politically and culturally by the powers of the West. Mahathir saw himself, above all, as a champion of the developing world, and dedicated his life to the day when the countries of the developing world can sit at the global diplomatic table as equals with the great powers. Mahathir's entire political career and the remarkable rise of Malaysia under his stewardship is testimony to what the developing world can achieve with strong and visionary leadership.

Zafar Sobhan is an Assistant Editor of The Daily Star