KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 2): Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has acknowledged a major failing of the Malays is their unwillingness to work hard, which has led to a continued dependency on government aid even though they have enjoyed such assistance for more than 60 years, including his first 22-year stint as PM from 1981-2003.

In an interview with Sin Chew Daily, Dr Mahathir said the root cause stems from the Malay culture, as Malays do not know hardship and only want things easy.

To change the Malay mindset, the government plans to instil the right values through education. "They must learn from the Chinese to work hard, and they must understand to be trustworthy when doing business, debts must be paid … these values must be reinforced in the Malays," Dr Mahathir said.

"For elderly people, we cannot do anything, so we will have to start (to instil right values) from school," he said, adding during the annual general meeting of the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, the ministry of education had also shared that the government would try its best to change the Malay mindset.

Culture can influence one's success or failure

From his experience visiting other countries, Dr Mahathir believes success or failure is not correlated to race, skin colour, or where one lives. However, culture is the key factor that determines one's success or failure.

"For instance, Eastern Europeans are far less developed than their Western European counterparts. Culturally both are just so different. If you look at countries such as Japan, Korea, and even now China, which is the second largest economy in the world, it is closely related to their culture. Comparing China and Malaysia — one a nation with a 4,000-year history, while the latter has a 600-year history — both are distinctive."

At 93, Dr Mahathir acknowledged that when he was 70, he realised that people who came from China (in the earlier part of the 20th century) were once "coolies" when he was still a boy. But the Chinese values of hard work and industry prompted the Chinese to work hard and to establish a business, paving the way for their eventual success.

Dr Mahathir mocked the Malays as laidback and preferring to take things "easy".

He said if a Malay was given a piece of land with tin resources and told he should mine it to get rich, the Malay would prefer to seek Chinese assistance to mine the tin even if he only enjoys a slim margin.

"This is the cause of (your) Malay failure. If you want to mine, do the job yourself," he said.