Dr M displays trademark wit at launch of latest book
In his usual acerbic style, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today said his latest book would be a useful bedtime read if one had problems falling asleep.
“I assure you if you don’t feel sleepy at night or cannot sleep, please pick up the book and read it.
“After two paragraphs, you'll be dead to the world,” Malaysia’s former prime minister said at the launch of his book “The Wit & Wisdom of Dr Mahathir Mohamad” this morning.
It will be a "tough job" trying to read the "boring" book, he told some 100 people who attended the launch at the Borders bookstore in The Curve, Petaling Jaya.
The book is a collection of more than 500 quotations by the 89-year-old former prime minister.
Dr Mahathir’s arrival at the event was greeted with cheers and claps from those present, with one woman in the crowd shouting, “We love you, Tun M.”
Also present were his wife Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali, his daughter Marina Mahathir, Berjaya Corporation chairman Datuk Seri Robin Tan, Borders chief operating officer Yau Su Peng and publisher Didier Millet.
In his short speech, Dr Mahathir also said he was unsure whether he had any wisdom or wit although other people seemed to think otherwise.
He also signed copies of the book and took numerous photographs with those present.
Most of the quotations from the book were selected from the resources of the Perdana Leadership Foundation's electronic research library, which contain more than 320,000 digital records of Dr Mahathir's speeches, news clippings, books and journal articles.
The quotations in the book are arranged by topic, touching on leadership, race relations, the media, economics and development, colonialism and international relations.
The book is the second in publisher Editions Didier Millet’s series following the publication of “The Wit & Wisdom of Lee Kuan Yew” last year. – November 1, 2014.
