You have to really give Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad credit for part of his leadership style. Unlike other leaders in many Asian countries who make their underlings do the dirty work, Mahathir is not beyond doing some himself.

In particular, he is good at drumming up charges against his opponents. He calls Dong Jiao Zong a communist and racist when he is more guilty of it. He calls his former deputy Anwar Ibrahim a sex pervert when his closest cronies are famous for much more. He does all these things himself rather than just leave his lackeys to do it. Perhaps it's because his lackeys are so inept (look at Hishammuddin Hussein and his Youth movement!).

Most Asian leaders from Singapore, Indonesia, to China and Japan usually leave the dirty work to their underlings so as to provide a layer of denial should it backfire. Mahathir doesn't always shy away from putting himself out there and twisting the facts. In today's era of the modern media and Internet, it's either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid of him.

Regardless, you have to hand him the credit.