If by Sri Karma Vijaya's reckoning Dr Mahathir was a great leader, then by the same measurement so were plenty of other tyrants, dictators, despots that littered the course of human history.

I do not wish to debate on the merits or the demerits of Sri's criteria of measurement as it is obvious that they have no empirical content; only whimpers of gratitude from a beneficiary of Mahathirism. I just want to highlight his apologetic rationalisation of the 'inevitable' by-products (or baggage as he calls them) in the form of victims and sufferings of those who are weaker but not attuned to a megalomaniac's dream of his own interpretation of greatness.

Before we know it, Sri will speak well of the need for the killing of the disabled in order that society can move forward faster without useless 'baggage'. Just as Mahathir's contempt for the Malays was because of their lesser desire for worldly pursuits which slowed down his own road to 'greatness'.

What right, what God-given right, has any man to impose his version of greatness on others to the extent that it causes undue suffering on those who disagree? What divine mandate has a so-called leader got such that he is the one to decide on 'small sacrifices for a bigger gain'?

There is one man in Putrajaya and another in Sungai Buloh who are in the pivotal position to decide on the true destiny of this nation. We can only hope that they will do what they think is right by their followers, and not by their own sense of personal greatness. These two, we will compare.

Mahathir is yesterday's news. Let's compare apples with apples. Yesterday's apples are probably rotten and forgotten by now.