Non-Western Modernization: Modernization Experience in Malaysia During the Era of Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad (1981 – 2003)

The concept of non-Western modernization is an alternative modernization model in which non-Western societies blend their own culture and values with the science and technology of the West. It is a local, alternative, and plural reading of modernity. Tradition has an important place in this reading. According to non-Western modernization theory, societies can modernize to the extent that tradition is accepted, not to the extent that it is rejected. In this study, the non-Western modernization policies of Mahathir bin Mohamad, the fourth prime minister of Malaysia, called the “Bapa Permodenan Malaysia” (father of Malaysian modernization), are explained. He served as Malaysia's democratically elected prime minister for 22 years from 1981 to 2003 and later from 2018 to 2020 for a cumulative total of 24 years, making him the country's longest-serving prime minister. He made Malaysia a modern country by synthesizing Islamic and Asian values with modernization policies. In this context, his modernization policies will be examined and how successful they were will be shown.