PM of Malaysia, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad @chedetofficial speaking on 'Future of Democracy in Asia' at Chatham House, London today. @501Awani 
"I may be accused of being a dictator, but I like to differ. And today, a dictator will talk about democracy." - Tun M said, to a roar of laughter from the crowd at Chatham House.
"Democracy is not something easy to handle. The basic rule is that the majority of people have a right to choose their leaders. If you want to make a government work, you need to have a certain kind of discipline."
"Asians are told that they should have democracy. It means not having a monarch or dictator. The assumption is of course that the people must know what is good for them."
"Prime Ministers are not being paid well. So if you want to bribe, you need to think of some ways to get the money. The previous Prime Minister have decided to steal the money."
"We find that when running a democratic government, there are tok many people with different ideas."
"Two parties system are not very democratic. Only if there is a united opposition, can democracy be practised to form a government."
"The only reason why people want to overthrow a government is because they think they can do a better job, however, they are not united. The result is civil war - instability. And will not benefit from democracy."
"We need to accpt that democracy is not a perfect system, and a flawed system. But with the right value system it can be a good system."
"The future of democracy in Asia will be something that will not be achieved overnight. If we look at the Middle East, they are unable to achieve so by trying to do it overnight. It takes time for people to be democratic."
"UMNO is democratic, although many people laugh at that. Malaysia is multiracial. The thing is, the country is divided not just by race, but by wealth. This is where the problem arise."
"The rich belongs to one race, and the poor belongs to one race. It is important to reduce that gap. It is not a discrimination against the Chinese. It is a matter of fact. If we don't correct this imbalance, there will be instability."
"Human rights is based on the culture of the Western people. The people in the East regard that as normal. There is no problem with freedom, but there needs to be a limit to freedom. People should be sensitive to the value system of the community."
"Ideaa about Human Rights coming out of European culture will not be the same as the ones in our country."
"With regard to the manifesto, we drew up the manifesto without thinking we will become the government. We thought about what would be the best thing for a government to do. And then we won and now it is difficult for us." (laughter from the room)
"For 61 years they have been opposing the government, now they are the government. I share my thoughts based on my experience. All government must have authority, it is abusing the authority that is bad. The power must be distributed between the legislators and judiciary."
"We don't want to be involved with other people's quarrel. We don't to be involved in war, or siding with people. We don't belong to any groups; neither the East or West, so we are free to think. We don't think war is the solution - but through negotiations, arbitrations."
From Q+A: "[On 1MDB] We are following the money trail. Our priority is to go for cases whwre some evidence have been gathered, i.e. the money used to produce a film, and to buy properties in the USA. It has been traced back to 1MDB. We will negotiate with the US to take actions."
".. we will deal with the 1MDB casw one by one."
"[Asia-Europe relations amidst Brexit] We intend to carry om the relations with the UK whether or not they remain in the Union or not. The UK has one of the biggest trade with Malaysia."
"[On structure reforms] We find the power of the PM was too great. Now, parliament will determine the choice of senior officers. We will also reduce the term for being PM to only two terms. Everything need the consent of 2/3 of majority."
"[On values] We'll have to consult the experts in religion. One country may accept certain practice, and some don't. Some of the believes may fall short of ideas coming out of the West. i.e, the sanctity of marriage - sometimes we don't know who the father is. This isnt Malaysia.
"[On arbitrarion and mediation with Singapore] We have been trying to negotiate with them, but not very successfully. But we don't intend to go to war with them. We will continue to negotiate."
"[On values] There are some values that are good for other countries, and if it's good for us, we will adapt. For example, our 'Look East' policy. The Japanese are more hardworking and perhaps more honest, therefore we want to develop in that way."
"[On threats and war] But sides must agree to refer to the World Court. We went twice on the case of an island with Indonesia - we couldn't solve thru arbitration so we went to World Court. You go to court, you are at the mercy of the Judge."
"[On Anwar Ibrahim] I didn't put him in jail, the court did. (Laughter). If we are going to overthrow Najib, we decided its best to work together as a coalition. I have no problems with Anwar. The assumption is I am the interim PM for about 2yrs before Anwar takes over."
"[On Tun M's character] I'm still the same me. But I am careful with not being called a practitioner of chronism. But I wasn't doing that, I was giving business to those who are capable. But I am still focused on the same goals on development as my 22 years of premiership."
"It is totally different than my last experience as PM in 1981. There was corruption but hardly damaging to the country. But this time around, I find that the whole machinery of gov have been corrupted. I have a job of cleaning up to do. But I will continue to do the right thing.
