Title: Prime Minister of Malaysia

Date of birth: December 20 1925 in Alor Setar, capital of the State of Kedah

Background information: Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad has been the Malaysian Prime Minister for over 20 years. Holding onto power has not been easy - at the height of the Asian crisis, Dr Mahathir was in danger of being swept away in the tidal wave of reform. Determined to remain at the top, he made a number of decisions, the first was to remove Anwar Ibrahim, his popular deputy, who favoured western-style reform. He also imposed capital controls and rescued banks and companies devastated by the crisis. Mr Anwar was sacked and detained, emerging with a black eye and bruises after a beating by the police chief. The public was outraged and 7,000 protestors took to the streets to call for Dr Mahathir's resignation. But their anger was mitigated when Mr Anwar was charged with sodomy and abusing power to conceal it. He denied the charges as a political conspiracy, and many believed him, but his character was nonetheless called into question. He was finished off with a six-year sentence.

With Mr Anwar out of the way, Dr Mahathir was then free to proceed. He had already shocked the world by blaming the crisis on George Soros, the international financier, whose hedge funds speculated in the currency markets, and on foreigners he said were intent on deliberately undermining the economy. He went on further to impose capital controls that trapped foreign investors in the market for a year. Investors swore off Malaysia and analysts predicted the economy would stagnate - but it recovered with the rest of the region.