Retirement of Mahathir Mohamad

Date: October 31, 2003 • Location: Rome, Italy

After 22 years in power, Mahathir Mohamad retired as Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Mahathir bin Mohamad is a Malaysian politician, physician and author who served as the fourth and seventh prime minister of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003 and again from 2018 to 2020. He was the country's longest-serving prime minister, serving for a cumulative total of 24 years. His political career has spanned more than 75 years, from joining protests opposing citizenship policies for non-Malays in the Malayan Union in the 1940s to forming the Gerakan Tanah Air coalition in 2022. During his premiership, Mahathir was granted the title "Father of Modernisation" for his pivotal role in transforming the country's economy and infrastructure. At 101 years old, he is the second-oldest living former state leader in the world and the first Malaysian prime minister to reach that age.