It was amusing, for a while, to listen to the ranting of our recalcitrant ex-prime minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, especially when the questions that he raised against the current government, spoke volumes - and none too well - about his own doings while he was in power.

At the same time, one could not help but at least grudgingly give him credit for some good points especially for his comments on some international events.

However, of late, he seems to have unwittingly revealed his true colours as a racist with his crude comments about a 'non-Malay' (Brendan Pereira) controlling New Straits Times .

His allegation that 'the Malay officers in NST have all been sacked', would have been risible if it were not so pregnant with racist undertones.

The fact that he wants to play the racial card indicates that he is running out of real issues and that he will forage in the gutters of racial and religious bigotry to find ammunition for his apparent vendetta against Pak Lah and his men.

Incidentally, Mahathir seems to place Malaysians who are not ethnically Malay on the same level as foreigners as can been seen from the logic of this statement of his:

"I still remember when we took over NST in 1972. Tengku Razaleigh (Hamzah) was tasked with the operations because NST was owned by foreigners. And we elected Malays as editors and others. Now, all the Malays have been sacked and 'New Malays' (non-Malays) such as Brendan have been given power."

Need we say more about the nation-building sentiments of our great helmsman who guided the destiny of our fair land for two and a half decades?