Sticks and Stones: Mahathir Mohamad and George Soros

Like a pair of bad tempered boys, Mahathir Mohamad, former Prime Minister of Malaysia, and George Soros, the US billionaire speculator and philanthropist, had been feuding for a decade, using all sorts of platforms including a World Bank meeting for their fight.

Then they kissed and made up in December 2006 when Soros took up an invitation by the London School of Economics Society to visit Kuala Lumpur. The two met and chatted for an hour, like old friends. Perhaps they are, after all, who else would pay them attention nowadays? Looking back, the two had say many things that look totally ridiculous today. Below is a sampling:

 

On name calling

 

"George Soros is a moron."

- Mahathir, August 1997

 

"I am not a moron."

- Soros, World Bank Meeting in Hong Kong, September 20, 1997

 

 

Soros on Mahathir

 

"Dr. Mahathir is a menace to his own country."

- Soros, World Bank Meeting in Hong Kong, September 20, 1997

 

"I hope that Anwar will be either let out of jail or if he's put in jail, the public opinion is going to turn against Mahathir."

- Soros, speaking at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, December 4, 1998

 

"I think Mahathir has made a great contribution to Malaysia’s material development but like all great men, he has made some great mistakes."

- Soros, in an interview, 2006

 

On currency speculation

"There is definite evidence that we cannot disclose. There is no doubt he did it."

- Mahathir, Kuala Lumpur, 1997, on Soros' role in the currency speculation that triggered the Asian Crisis of 1997/98

 

"Mr Soros said he is not involved. I accept that."

- Mahathir, Kuala Lumpur, December 2006

 

"If Soros was not responsible, who was?"

- Anwar Ibrahim, former Malaysia Deputy PM jailed by Mahathir, in a public rally in Malacca in December 2006. To which the crowd cried out, "Mahathir! Mahathir!"

 

On Jews

 

"Soros is part of a worldwide Jewish conspiracy."

- Mahathir, Kuala Lumpur, 1997

 

"Somehow or other, I have been labeled anti-Semitic. I would like to say that I am not anti-Semitic, not anti-Jew."

- Mahathir, Kuala Lumpur, December 2006

 

"I accept that Dr Mahathir is not anti-Semitic."

- Soros, Kuala Lumpur, December 2006.

 

On fame

"Mahathir, who I consider my best publicity agent—because who would have heard of me in Asia unless Mahathir had made me famous?"

- Soros, Indonesia Radio, January 2006