Stop 'kowtowing' to West: Mahathir

Mahathir, whose anti-Western rhetoric often caused controversy during his 22 years in power, told a university lecture in Singapore on democracy and Asian leadership that Asian minds were still "colonised" by Western influence.

"Asian leaders and Asians in general have yet to achieve freedom of thought, freedom to look critically at the ideas and idealogies coming from outside Asia," Mahathir, 79, said.