Before the prime ministry of Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, not that many people had ever heard of Malaysia, outside of adjacent Singapore, which shared a common border as well as an intense mutual antipathy that entertained the rest of Southeast Asia for decades.
But by the late 1990s the land of the Malays was pretty well established on the world map. Love him or hate him, the once country-clinic doctor was something else again. Mahathir Mohamad is one of the giants of Asia because Southeast Asia itself is well on its way to becoming a giant player in the 21st century.
The progression wouldn't be happening quite as noticeably had the mainly Muslim Malaysia remained the largely rural and agricultural Muslim culture that it was in 1981. That was when this family doctor turned politician landed the job of prime minister and was to stay at the top for more than two decades.