Does our wonderful Dr Mahathir deserve the Nobel Peace Prize?

I read with great surprise today, that our one and only Dr M had been nominated for the Nobel Peach Prize this year. I thought that this was wonderful news. It's the first time that one of our own has been nominated for the prize. Then, after thinking about it a little, I wonder if he actually deserves it. So, I did a little investigation (source: wikipedia - aren't they great!).

Personally, I like this old man. He has the kind of bull-dog character that endears to me. He is not afraid of kicking ass and is certainly not shy about doing things his way. I won't say that I've agreed with all his actions, but nonetheless, I have the utmost respect for him. He is a fairly straightforward guy. If he doesn't like you, he'll let you know about it, straight in the face. Just the kind of person that I like.

Among his many achievements during his premiereship, I particularly liked how he engineered the dawn raid of Guthrie, turning it from a British company into a Malaysian one, in order to return the ownership of some 200,000 acres of agricultural land back to Malaysians. There is no doubt that he was the force that brought modernisation to Malaysia. I would even dare say that if he had been our PM earlier, we would be way ahead of where we are now.

"In Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mahathir has been noted as a particular ally and sympathetic co-religionist of that nation. He visited Sarajevo in June, 2005 to open a bridge near Bosmal City Center signifying friendship between Malaysians and Bosnians." So, it's no surprise why the nomination came from Bosnia then. Mahathir has always been greatly admired by the developing and Islamic countries.

However, when you do consider the various 'not so nice' things that he did during his tenure as our PM, he doesn't come out smelling of roses. Hence, I doubt that he will get anything but a nomination. But it's nice to be nominated anyway. And if he gets shortlisted, it's even nicer. I'd like to say a nice congratulation to him anyway. How often to people ever get nominated for the Nobel prize anyway! That's an accomplishment in itself.

Oh, I forgot to answer my own question on whether our ex-PM deserves it or not. Well, Dr Ganic said that "Dr M had influenced the world by leaving behind lessons on how diversity could be managed, conflicts reconciled and multi-ethnicity harnessed to build a vibrant economic and political system". So, not only does he deserve it, but he should gracefully accept it on behalf of the rest of the rakyat in the country who had contributed to it as well.