Re-inventing Mahathirism

Mahathirism: Political reality & the Prediction of Theory

When we no longer are sure what we are doing, theory tends to become self-conscious. At such moment of crisis, two strategies open: (1) theory may try to supply a ‘correct interpretation of the doctrine that has gone wrong in practice and offer a new rationale for it, or (2) it may attempt to substitute a new theory for the old and inadequate one, in order to ‘suggest that an entirely different way of behaving is now on the historical agenda.

Hitherto people have formed many incorrect ideas about Mahathirism and now may be the time for a re-appraisal of it. Understanding the relevance of Mahathir’s inquiries to our present situation means stripping away the clichés and misrepresentations of his work and thoughts, rediscovering a mode of thinking that allows an engagement with the current legal, economic and social relationships from a position of critical immanence.

Mahathirism theory can explain how our economic relations lead to the alienation, exploitation and domination that determines the form of the social structures and the political realities. An attempt to engage with a reinvented Mahathirism theory can articulate the complex relations between the current social and economic differentiation and disparities, providing a place for the subject and politics in the interests of all members of society. It could help transform the society into a rational order and in doing so, it reclaims a realm of freedom from the realms of political necessity and creates a new order in the interests of all rather than those of the privileged few.