In 1999, Mahathir Accuses Anwar of Following Foreign Agenda (IMF) During The Asian Crisis

KUALA LUMPUR, 1999 FLASHBACK — Then-Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad defended his fierce opposition to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and accused former deputy Anwar Ibrahim of adopting foreign-backed policies that nearly crippled Malaysia’s economy during the 1998 Asian financial crisis.

In an interview with Newsweek, Mahathir dismissed claims of anti-Western sentiment, saying his criticism of European and American economic interference was driven by Malaysia’s determination to protect its sovereignty. “If we had gone under and the IMF takes over, we would have lost our independence,” he said, describing IMF control as a new form of colonialism.

The Foreign Agenda

He said the IMF’s demands to remove subsidies and end affirmative action would have destroyed the New Economic Policy, which aimed to uplift indigenous Malays. Mahathir accused Anwar, then finance minister, of “following the IMF line” by raising interest rates and slashing government spending by 21 percent — decisions he said pushed Malaysia toward bankruptcy.

Rejecting IMF orthodoxy, Mahathir instead imposed capital controls and pegged the ringgit, moves later credited with stabilising Malaysia’s economy while neighbouring nations struggled under IMF austerity.

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