During his 22 years tenure as prime minister of Malaysia, Dr Mahathir Mohamad's legacy has been his propensity to spend lavishly on mega projects. It would have been a tribute to his legacy if only what he spent extravagantly on was useful to the citizens of this country. But this was not to be.

His Multimedia Super Corridor project was a flop. The country's investment in another state-of-the-art information technology project ended in the loss of a few hundred million ringgit when the foreigner entrusted with the task channelled investment funds to his private account in America.

Putrajaya is half completed and its future is in limbo. The Petronas Twin Towers is only sparsely filled. KLIA, which cost nearly RM9 billion is underutilised. The Maltrade building which was contracted out for RM160 million ended up costing $230 million. Mahathir's foray into the foreign currency exchange in the 80s - according to Anwar Ibrahim - ended in a RM31 billion loss.

His human rights record is abysmal. He used the ISA to incarcerate opposition whenever there was a threat to his position .He used the judiciary to act in accordance with his whims and fancy and when they refused to comply, he set up a tribunal to remove them. Even his deputy was not spared his conniving ways. He trumped up charges of corruption and sodomy to imprison his deputy when he perceived there was a threat to dethrone him.

As for his foreign policy, there was little difference from his predecessor and his current successor. Malaysia's foreign policy has always been predicated on religion. That is the primary reason why we have not recognised Israel, a country which has not offended us in any way. And Mahathir's moral support for the Muslim insurgents in southern Thailand has caused considerable anger in Bangkok.

Therefore when we see a 'war crimes tribunal' being conceived by Mahahthir we begin to suspect that his agenda is to support the Muslim insurgents in Iraq and the Muslim Palestinians in Palestine. As for the perpetrators of Sept 11? In Mahathir's book they don't deserve to be brought before his war crimes tribunal. This alone negates any of the tribunal's credibility.

What really boggles the mind is what did Mahathir ever do to deserve a nomination for the Nobel peace prize?