For many Malaysians in their 20's and 30's, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad is the only top leader they know in their politically conscious lives.

His style and ideas in politics have either become objects of blind emulation, or the target of extreme fury.

There seems to be no other comparison for the man within Malaysia. True, many are aware of the first three prime ministers - Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Abdul Razak and Tun Hussein Onn - but comparison and contrast are difficult, given that memories of them are blurred by now.

In any case, public discourse in Malaysia is increasingly dominated by businessmen, managers, technicians and cybernauts, while citizens are obsessed with personal success in material lives, and infatuation with symbolic recognition and sensuous glory (or vainglory).

Without a shared sense of collective memories and experiences based on history and geography, the territorial space called Malaysia may become just a cosmopolitan hotel or golf club for strangers, rather than a home for family members.

Fortunately, Dr Cheah Boon Kheng's book ' Malaysia - The Making of a Nation ' (Singapore, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2002) is a great contribution to revitalising the political discourse in Malaysia.

Lively narration

A retired professor who taught history at Universiti Sains Malaysia, Cheah has gained regional and international recognition for his writings on Malaysia and Singapore.

He pioneered the more dispassionate studies on the English-educated and English-speaking Malayan communists and left-wingers in works such as ' The Masked Comrades ' (1979) and ' Red Star over Malaya ' (1983).

In 1992, Cheah published a compilation of the now declassified Western intelligence dossiers of the colonial period.

This profiled the personality, ideas and activities of the first generation of Sumatran and Javanese Marxists, Bolsheviks and agents of the Moscow-based Communist International (Comintern) ('From PKI to Comintern 1924-1941: The Apprenticeship of the Malayan Communist Party', New York, Cornell University, 1992).

In ' Malaysia - The Making of a Nation ', he uses a slightly different style from the typical dissertation. Although he does cite academic references and history, Cheah refrains from using jargon and writes in elegant but plain English.

In mere 263 pages, he surveys the twists and turns of Malaysian politics from 1945 to 2002 in highly readable fashion. It is testimony to his mastery of story-telling skills in the grand tradition of Ssu-ma Ch'ien and Thucydides.

Above all, there are many lively elements of human ideas and actions, both smart and silly, in the narration, analyses and judgements.

He makes assessments of the personality and character of the four prime ministers, apparently illustrating that, in Malaysian politics, personal styles are a major factor in policy-making and the success or failure of policies.

In page 200, Mahathir is described as "a highly respected medical doctor" before "he became a full-time politician", but Cheah also quotes an article in Britain's Sunday Times (Nov 28, 1993) which calls him "prickly, vindictive and one who bears grudges".

On the same page, "a cynical Dutch scholar" is quoted as making the remark that "Mahathir was involved not so much in nation-building as Mahathir-building".

Cheah himself observes that as an "extremely proud, sensitive man who was prone to sulk, Dr Mahathir interpreted most issues personally".

In a footnote to this, Cheah reveals that "his (Mahathir's) propensity to sulk was first detected by Umno leader Musa Hitam, who was deputy prime minister from 1981 to 1986". (p.230)

"Mahathir had yearned desperately to be the great beloved leader of the Malays, but by July 2001 - when he completed 20 years in office - this dream seemed to have faded away," says Cheah.

On a more positive note, Cheah says Mahathir is "known for his zeal and dedication to work", and "could at times be witty". (p.194)

In narrating and analysing the broad history of nation-building in Malaysia, Cheah has not forgotten the interaction between free will on one hand, and environmental or situational factors on the other.

For example, he says Mahathir's closer relationship with the Chinese Malaysian community in recent years has something to do with declining support of Malays for him and Umno.

As a historian, he certainly remembers Mahathir as a radical in the 1960s who was critical of the Tunku for being 'pro-Chinese', and who used the term 'predatory Chinese' in his first book, ' The Malay Dilemma '

Relationships examined

Cheah explores at length and in depth Mahathir's up-and-down relationship with his third deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, as well as the royalty, the West and Islamism.

"Within the span of 20 years as Prime Minister, he (Mahathir) had been embroiled in contentious, acrimonious and litigious conflicts over his leadership and policies every few years either with Malay and non-Malay groups," he writes.

However, the main theme of this remarkable book is not Mahathir, 'Mahathirism' or 'Mahathirology'. These are merely sub-themes in a broad range of analysis.

Cheah describes his book as "an account of the contest between Malay ethno-nationalism and Malaysian nationalism in the making of the Malaysian nation".

As such, he also gauges the strengths and weaknesses of the other prime ministers and numerous actors in Malayan/Malaysian politics.

The book also covers the politics of Sabah, Sarawak and, wherever relevant, Singapore.

Its conclusion is especially interesting for those who believe that politics is more a fluid art than static science.

The struggle of Malay ethno-nationalists has been checked by forces of multi-ethnic "Malaysian nationalism" in Peninsular Malaysia and the contesting nationalisms and communalism of indigenous communities in Sabah and Sarawak.

However, Malay primacy is still going to define Malaysian politics for many years to come. This conclusion may cause despair among some, but will give hope to others.

JAMES WONG WING On is chief analyst of Strategic Analysis Malaysia (SAM). Wong is a former member of Parliament (1990-1995) and a former columnist for the Sin Chew Jit Poh Chinese daily (now Sin Chew Daily ). He read political science and economics at the Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. While in Sin Chew , he and a team of journalists won the top awards of Malaysian Press Institute (MPI) for 1998 and 1999.

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