“Dr Mahathir Mohamad is a U-turn champion,” said the current Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Abdul Razak, voicing out against a man who has single-handedly notched up a gear in Malaysia's rise toward the international stages who is right now probably sitting down in his room, thinking what is his next move in his quest to save his beloved nation.

He is 92 years old and has been struggling with heart problems for years now, but that never stopped a man who was behind the emergence of Proton, the building of the Petronas Twin Towers and most of all, the modernisation of Malaysia from working his socks off for the sake of the place where he was born and grew up.

A driven doctor, an intelligent strategist and among the elite of the leaders this land has ever graced, Dr Mahathir’s fight for the Malaysia he once glorified continues.

Ever since he stepped down from office after his 22 years of successful tenure, Malaysia faces a difficult task filling the void he left, initially started with the likes of Ahmad Ahmad Badawi, who lasted for five years, statistically unable to match the level that Dr M set. Soon after, Najib, the son of a former prime minister, Abdul Razak Hussein, entered the frame with huge hopes on him to bring back success back to Malaysia’s backyard.

As a person who grew up parented by a former prime minister himself, we all expected him to be the kind of frontman we craved for a long time.

Undeniably, being a prime minister isn’t just an office hours eight-to-five career as most of us endure every day. From making critical decisions to setting a decent example to everyone, the whole nation is under your feet putting their faith in you to lead them from the front in this unpredictable world. The chair cannot be occupied by the weak ones.

In this vast-growing digital age, we can say everything that’s happening in every corner is almost freely broadcast all over the whole media stream in such short amount of time. A person’s sick situation, his/her birthday, death of relative or a stranger we came across earlier or even accidents that occured at places thousands of kilometres away from you, all will be screened directly down to your own hands with the help of the Internet.

Let alone the news of the downfall of our currency, the ongoing investigation of the 1MDB scandal and even the non-stop abuse of our PM on social media, call it as too much, but this is our bitter reality. We abuse our own leader.

Adding more to that, the people of this nation have seen the trails left by our neighbour Singapore, a region that was once one of ours, becoming one of the economic greats today, despite the space of the land they have. We have seen the domination of Thailand in South-East Asian sports events for years, which is not something that can be easily matched.

The mass war against drugs by the newly-elected President of the Phillipines, Rodrigo Duterte, which has sparks various views and controversies all around the world, but the result is unbelievable, there is a massive collapse in the numbers of drug traffickers, more public support and of course, a ‘cleaner’ country to live in.

‘Others have leapfrogged Malaysia’

Economy, sports, social problems, you name it, we’ve seen countries near us who were, I have to mention, a level below us during the 90s, I repeat, below us, they have leapfrogged Malaysia in terms of everything, punching above their own weights to become not only better than us, but to reach the standards the same as the West nations. Let alone Japan, Russia and United States, we can’t even compete with our neighbours any more.

My admiration towards Dr Mahathir has always been sky-high. The mentalities he’s had, the courage he’s got, overall, he’s the kind of a man up for the task in spearheading our country toward success. Leave aside his stance for now, to be fair, he’s got a point in his fight against BN, what has been nothing short of ‘failing’ in the past decades.

I’m writing this not only to show the readers around here (especially Malaysians) about the comparison between Malaysia and other successful nations, but this is the reality. It hurts me when Malaysia now, is just a “multiracial country with a twin towers and a scandalous prime minister”.

My intention here is to create a bigger picture for us to see and as the people of this motherland, I want us to pick the right fight, don’t just sit there and say, “Politics isn’t my thing”. By saying that, you have made yourself involved with politics, it brings you towards the circle of third class mentalities, you're obeying everything people say and trust me, this will brings us back to the time when the Portuguese invaded us. Don’t make it easy for them to drag us down.

Dear Malaysians, don't forget our identity, we’re one Malaysia, not because we’re united and harmonious despite our differences, but say that because we can think critically to differentiate what’s wrong and what’s right. Examplify the marks Dr M has left for us, he always has this mission of “Malaysia can be better than any nations on its day”.

But the truth is our country is failing and don’t tell me it's not our job to fix that. We have our roles to play in this, step up and decide the big decisions, the vital choices that can make the differences.

I’d love to recall what late John F Kennedy, former president of United States of America said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”

Last but not least, “I cannot keep quiet even I am a lone voice.” “We learn not only from people’s success, but from their mistakes, too.” “If you want to be a leader, you must have ideas, if not, you're simply a follower.”

These were said by none other than Dr Mahathir Mohamad.