The call for a probe into the billions allegedly wasted on hubristic projects in the 22 years Dr Mahathir Mohamad was prime minister is wrongheaded.

Would-be investigators would find they are on a hiding to nothing, not because no waste occurred; it will be difficult to pin precise blame for it on any particular person.

Here it is useful to recall the episode of former prime minister Hussein Onn being forced to tender an abject apology when cabinet minutes were released to show that the initial decision to corner the London tin market, which became known as the Maminco affair, was taken in the last few months of his premiership in 1981...