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COMMENT | With the exception of a Mahathir studies centre in University Utara Malaysia, which may have been disbanded at the height of Dr Mahathir Mohamad's feisty tussle with Najib Razak, there seems to be no monument or roads to remember Mahathir. This is a novelty in so far as the indulgence of Malaysian VIPs to praise themselves, often affixing their names with YB, Dato, Tan Sri and the likes.

Mahathir seems to be comfortable with people screaming "Mahathir," or "Hidup Mahathir", both online and in actual briefings before and after cabinet meetings. But so far there has been no sign (as yet) that all that adulation has gone to his head. At the very least, he has taken to the new tenure as the seventh prime minister of Malaysia with gusto.

Be it his regular interface with members of the Council of Elders, or, the party’s presidential council, indeed, key members of Bersatu, such as Muhyiddin Yassin, indeed policy strategists like Rais Hussin and youth leader like Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, there has been no stopping Mahathir. He is nothing less than a comeback statesman beyond the talismanic description of former President Bill Clinton as the comeback kid.

But those who have had the privilege of working with Mahathir before ought to know why he is a force unto his own: he is superbly systematic. How?

Before one wants to brief Mahathir on any issues, as I did when he received an honorary doctorate in letters from Waseda University, the first Japanese university to admit former Universiti Malaya chancellor royal professor Ungku Aziz too, invariably the father of Zeti Aziz, one has to brief Mahathir ahead of time.

Meetings with Mahathir can last anything from a simple 10 to 15 minutes, but the follow up from his team is exceptional, especially from secretary like Madam Adzlin or his special assistant Sufi Yusof. Even Badariah Arshad, Mahathir's loyal manager, is excellent in keeping his schedule organised.

When Mahathir was awarded the honorary doctorate in 2006 by Waseda University, it was arranged and done through me, with close coordination with the Department of Political Science and Economics in Waseda University, while the award ceremony would be handled and supported by the Graduate School of Asian Pacific Studies.

The honorary degree itself was in recognition of Mahathir as the 'inspiration' or 'father' of Asian regionalism; which Waseda University fully supports. Unlike Keio University which tends to encourage Japan to Look West, Waseda University has always believed that the future of Japan rests with Asia, ideally a peaceful and prosperous one.

When I made the case for Mahathir to be made the recipient of the Waseda honorary doctorate, I briefed Mahathir that I was a product of Look East too. After my graduate studies at University of Cambridge I had taken to his advice to learn from Japan, at which point, I ended up first in University of Tokyo in 1997 before...

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