Has everyone forgotten how Anwar Ibrahim 'strangled' housing developers by implementing a policy that stopped the banks from lending to projects for houses costing more than RM100,000?

Or how he 'knocked out' credit card holders by raising the minimum payment to 10 percent overnight? Or how he 'closed' small used-car dealers by lowering hire-purchase to 70 percent instead of 90 percent?

Or how he 'suffocated' borrowers by revising non-performing loans (NPLs) from six months to three months when the stockmarket nose-dived and the Malaysian ringgit was under attack?

Yes, the man was a great orator. He had charisma and words that charmed the younger generation. But what did he do when the Malaysian economy was suffering?

He should have known that the classic text-book prescriptions of the IMF for troubled economies would not work in a country exposed to foreign markets. Please remember, Indonesia had to raise kerosene prices as a condition for their IMF loan.

No man is perfect. One has to judge a leader by his overall leadership, courage and contribution. So when Dr Mahathir Mohamad shielded Malaysia from external forces by making the ringgit a non-tradable currency overseas, the economy began to recover.

And the rest, as they say, is history. The man might not be right all the time. But the important thing is he was right at the right time.

I idolised Anwar from my university days. But after seeing what he had done when he was in power, I fully support Mahathir in doing what he did. I would not want Anwar as my prime minister.