Mahathir’s father taught him to hate aristocrats
“Mahathir was born to the family of Mohamad bin Iskandar Kutty, a man of Keralan descent who despised aristocrats just the way his ancestors did. Being the first Indian community to embrace communism, Keralans are opposed to members of Indian royalty who typically refer to themselves as the descendants of Gods”
THE THIRD FORCE
One of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s biggest grouses against the late Tunku Abdul Rahman was the latter’s penchant for spending leisure hours at bars, dance lounges and golf courses. During his first term as parliamentarian for the Kuala Kedah constituency, Mahathir confided in his peers that the Tunku’s mannerisms was “what you’d expect from a member of Royalty born with a golden spoon in his mouth.”
As a matter of fact, it wasn’t just Mahathir, but his own father, Mohamad bin Iskandar Kutty (fondly referred to as Master Mohamad), who had problems with the Tunku. Back in the 1910’s, the Tunku was a ‘spoilt brat’ who would impress upon schoolmates that he was the son of a ruler and needed to be revered. Very often, during recess, the young Tunku would parade around the school grounds accompanied by ‘loyalists’ who would demand ‘sembah’ (obeisance) from other pupils.
Master Mohamad was a headmaster at the “Government English School” (or GES, later renamed Kolej Sultan Abdul Hamid) where the Tunku studied. At one point, he was forced to approach the Tunku’s mother to seek her ‘permission’ to discipline her son. Mahathir’s dad found it most annoying that the young Tunku would arrive to school on the shoulders of an aged and hunching palace attendant “who seemed as if his life was draining from him.”
As a matter of fact, he would often find the Tunku loitering around the school compound garbed in a gold-laced scarf (typical of the Keralan Manja Thunni) along with other palace regalia. In the Tunku’s memoir’s (as they were related to a former historian, unpublished), he confessed to joking with Mahathir one day about how Master Mohamad had disciplined him before expressing “shock” at Mahathir’s reply.
“That joker had the cheek to tell me right on my face that his father reminded him every other day not to become arrogant like me. The cheek of him…”
That, according to Tunku, may have been the primary reason why Mahathir detested the aristocratic class “to a degree that was so perplexing.”
“I often asked (Tunku) Abdullah what had gotten into that Paki (bursts into laughter).”
Yes, “that Paki.”
The Tunku, who traced his ancestry to the Thais through his mother, often joked about how persons of Indian heritage – particularly the Keralans – were a cunning breed of “Manja Thunnis” (an old Keralan reference to a yellow/golden laced cloth, worn by traditional Keralans around the waist). The Tunku was probably referring to tales of Keralan assassins who would sneak up on their enemies from behind before strangling them with “Manja Thunnis.”
