Once upon a time in Malaysia, a leader ruled with an iron hand and clung on to power at costs. He rammed his views down the people’s throats until they choked in despair.

At the opening of the Umno annual general assembly on June 21, 2001, he delivered a stinging critique of Malays - a banshee’s song which none wanted to hear.

Then, delegates dreamt he would inspire them by announcing his plans for retirement while endorsing his successor. They had hoped for restoration of public faith in the party and direction for the nation but as always, he brutally voiced his intense disappointment with them for having failed to meet his expectations to be the populace he had wanted them to be.

Never happy, he alienated the very ones who put him in the seat of power, some of whom had left the party who hated and were intolerant of his caustic and hurtful remarks.

When reporters enquired about his retirement plans, he admitted some people would like to see him “disappear or disintegrate”, there were others who insisted that he should stay on. Hence, he rationalised he had to “find the right time to step down”.

Decades later, the tables have turned and he now unceasingly demands his handpicked one to step down as the prime minister of Malaysia. Clearly, this man’s dogged determination to oust the prime minister from his seat of power at all costs with any rhyme or reason, proves how his determination to exercise power, even if he is no longer in any seat of power except that of his family, is his stubborn belief that he has never been wrong in anything.

Regardless, the nation has to bow to his whims and fancies.

When he was in the seat of power, he was determined to remain in office as long as he could to guarantee the success of his projects. Today, he has the same determination so that this time, his son can guarantee the continued success of his existing or even pending projects.

Then until now, he expects all Malaysians to cower to his demands because he thinks he is the best, the smartest, most innovative, forgetting how he failed to stem the growth of corruption during his reign, especially in the 1990s. In fact, he denounced corruption in the 1994 and 1995 Umno general assemblies with much tears, but took limited disciplinary action at the 1996 Umno general assembly elections.

Obviously, he forgets easily, especially his own failings. Yet, the shortcomings of others are magnified in his eyes. At one point, while denying corruption was rampant in Malaysia, he asked, “How can we achieve an 8.8 percent growth rate over the last seven years, if we are as corrupt as is made out by the Western newspapers?”

Today, he hammers the current PM over Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M), 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and a host of other issues forgetting how his own ideas such as ‘Look East’ were the cauldron of ideas and plans gift-wrapped with catchy titles. His affinity for glam projects and grandiose buildings reminds us of Sukarno. When he set his mind on any project such as the Bakun Dam, his actions indicate his disregard for cost-benefit considerations.

Nevertheless, today, he accuses the current regime of the very same things he was guilty of when he was in the seat of power. Amnesia set in. All was golden during his time. Ops Lallang is a figment of imagination. Only amendments to Sedition Act exist.

He was a saint and still is a saint. All must bow to him.

That is the Malaysian paradox called Dr Mahathir Mohamad.