Uncommon life of a commoner

PETALING JAYA: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad never thought he would ever become prime minister.

While he harboured dreams of becoming so, he felt that the odds were stacked against him: he was nothing like the previous PMs, who were all lawyers and were either of royal blood, like Tunku Abdul Rahman, or from elite families, like Tun Abdul Razak and Tun Hussein Onn.