I refer to the Malaysiakini report Mahathir, wife back in Umno .

So Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his wife are back in Umno. The once and (in his own mind at least) eternal overlord of Malaysia has decided to bestow the favour of his renewed membership on the country's ruling party.

Problem is, the man is pushing 90. There is something very sad for a ruling party with such a history like Umno’s to be fawning all over a day-before-yesterday's man.

That's desperation - laughable desperation.

We've just witnessed a profound generational shift in America towards the younger generation in their presidential election. Barack Obama's win created a wave of excitement all over the world.

And here we are - or rather, Umno is - desperately clinging to a hope that the good doctor will cure all their ills.

Things are beginning to get mighty strange here. And what's with the 00001 membership number? Is this Umno Baru Baru?

Meanwhile, the soon-to-be Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin drew guffaws at the Umno general assembly with a clever line about the three upcoming by-elections - Bukit. Gantang, Bukit Selambau and Batang Ai.

‘ Satu Batang, dua Bukit’ , he quipped. Ha, ha, indeed.

This was a crude, sexist attempt at humour, and only funny at a very shallow level. It just does not look like the kind of line the incoming deputy prime minister of a modern country should be spouting publicly.

But it is no surprise. The political discourse has become so coarse that caution is increasingly being thrown overboard. Crude behaviour and speech have become the order of the day.

The three upcoming by-elections will be an important watershed that could have far-reaching consequences.