As the Mahathir rule is formally and officially coming to an end in October, it can be expected that more and more eulogies and panegyrics bordering on an earthly cult of personality will surface in the official media.

Some do it with decent sincerity, while others, sheer buffoonery.

While some are expressions of genuinely felt admiration and respect, many others appear to have utilitarian, opportunistic or even Machiavellian motives.

For example, by praising Mahathir publicly, some actually wish to signal with an artful approach that they still have no confidence in his appointed successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Others may simply seize the rare opportunity to show the public, friends or foes in politics, public services, businesses or official 'journalism' that he or she knows someone who was once powerful and may still be highly influential behind the scene for many years to come (in Malaysia, know-who is often more critical and important than know-how).

Mahathir's influence

For example, at the height of the MCA power-struggle in the last three years, Team B leaders attempted to impress on Team A and the party's delegates that they had the support of Mahathir, hoping to overawe the stronger rival faction.

Gerakan and its president Dr Lim Keng Yaik are still trying to do the same to MCA in the ongoing behind-the-scene power struggle.

Of course, MCA itself uses the same psychological technique to impress upon the Chinese community, especially the businessmen, that it has someone powerful and influential as a backer or protector.

However, if everyone, including Indian parties like MIC and IPF as well as the predominantly Indian PPP are simultaneously playing the same game against each other, the net effects of the game are most likely to be self-deluding and self-canceling.

There are also some, especially big businessmen, who may actually wish for Mahathir to remain in a position - albeit without an official title or constitutional powers - of great and decisive influence over policy making in the government to continue to advance or protect their personal interests in politics, public services, businesses or official 'journalism'.

Of course, there are always those who, without any self-serving interests as well as firm roots in traditional cultures, time-tested religions and socially organic institutions, are in desperate need to anchor their emotive lives on some heroes, and to express their personal hopes, fears and anxieties for the unknown future.

This breeds gullibility that is widely said to be prevalent among a large segment of Malaysians, including the highly educated middle classes.

True, there are certainly some positive aspects in the political personality and character of Mahathir but then the world, and not only Malaysia, has known about them for a long time through the official media.

The darker side

What is seldom publicly discussed is the weaker points or darker side of the character or personality of a man whose thoughts, ideas, policies, measures and public statements have directly impacted on the lives of, at least, one generation of Malaysians.

If the unique personalities and characters of the prime ministers have always significantly influenced the politics and other spheres of public life in Malaysia, there is certainly a need to redress that imbalance in public discourses.

In his latest book titled Malaysia - The Making of a Nation (Singapore, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2002), historian Cheah Boon Kheng writes that, as "an extremely proud, sensitive man who was prone to sulk, Dr Mahathir interpreted most issues personally" and "at 75, he is still imbued with a personal mission".

Quoting Deputy Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin who was the former editor-in-chief of the Umno-controlled daily Utusan Malaysia , Cheah records that Mahathir's "propensity to sulk was first detected by Umno leader Musa Hitam, who was his deputy from 1981 to 1986". (p.230)

The historian also quotes an article in the Sunday Times in Britain (Nov 28, 1993) as describing Mahathir in1993 as "prickly, vindictive and one who bears grudges". (p.200)

However, Cheah is not alone in recording these negative personality traits in serious academic studies.

In 1999, British political scientists R S Milne and Diane K Mauzy devoted four pages in their book Malaysian Politics Under Mahathir (London, Routledge, 1999; pp.159-162), to describe and analyse the premier's "personal characteristics'.

Dislikes competition

According to them, although the "confrontational" Mahathir "enjoys absolute power" and "fights to win", he often shows "dislike of competition", especially in politics. If this combination of traits is true, then an authoritarian or even politically megalomaniac personality emerges.

They also quote Tengku Razaleigh - a former and long-time nemesis of Mahathir - as stating that the prime minister "thrives on crisis and confrontation".

The political scientists added: "Mahathir's temperament is not fitted to the requirement of avoiding crises."

Apparently agreeing with Cheah that he is an "extremely proud" man, Milne and Mauzy also remark that "Mahathir's determination to exercise power is fortified by his belief that he has never been wrong."

However, as many cases have demonstrated, the 77-year-old premier did make serious mistakes and errors in his 22-year reign.

How does he then reconcile the realities of his mistakes and errors, with the self-image of having "never been wrong"?

He just "shrugs it off". Recalling an interview, Milne and Mauzy record that "he (Mahathir) did not seem to see that previous disasters merited study in order to avoid similar errors in the future" and that this is "a trait that surely limits his effectiveness"".

According to Harold Crouch, an Australian political scientist who taught in Malaysia for many years and an expert in Malaysian and Indonesia politics, in the late 1980s, Mahathir was also seen by many supporters of his then deputy, Musa as "too impetuous and unwilling to consult his colleagues while tending to equate any criticism of his policies with treachery". ( Harold Crouch, Government & Society in Malaysia , Singapore, Talisman, 1996; p 117)

Given the convergence of some interests and passions in establishing an earthly cult of personality, how the darker traits and instincts of Mahathir, in the next few months, would be exploited to his own interests and advantages is something that is interesting to observe.

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his loyalists must also be observing it very nervously as the clock ticks.

JAMES WONG WING On is chief analyst of Strategic Analysis Malaysia (SAM). Wong is a former member of Parliament (1990-1995) and a former columnist for the Sin Chew Jit Poh Chinese daily (now Sin Chew Daily ). He read political science and economics at the Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. While in Sin Chew , he and a team of journalists won the top awards of Malaysian Press Institute (MPI) for 1998 and 1999.