Like most Malaysians, I looked forward to the prime minister's speech at the Umno general assembly with great anticipation.

However, I was sorely disappointed with the speech that was laden with racial rhetoric - nothing new, really. Even the attempt to hold back his tears at the end of speech was pathetic.

A few foreign friends in university too read the speech, and their reactions were ones of horror, to put it mildly. The only defence is that the speech was made at the opening of a political party and he needed to be seen as a nationalist. Furthermore, Mahathir is leaving soon.

The problem was not with the tone of the speech, but rather the content of the speech. Only in Malaysia could a politician get away with such a speech.

To make matters worse, other politicians have been falling all over themselves to bestow lavish praise on the wisdom of Mahathir's words. My question is, which part of that speech is seen as being really intelligent?

This is the man who didn't think twice about totally embarrassing and putting his former deputy in jail to preserve his position, yet spoke of loving his own race. This is the man who throughout his tenure, contributed to the worsening of racial relations in the country, both in his style of politics and by his choice of politicians.

Yet, at the same time, he spoke proudly of all the contributions he has brought to the nation, compared to the 'other' countries.

Let's look no further than that small rock down south. True, Singapore has its shortcomings, but this is a country who is now standing on par with the more developed nations in many areas. This is not the occasion to make comparisons, but the question is, is there anything that we can learn from them at all?

I'm proud to be a Malaysian. Yes, I have to fight harder because of the colour of my skin. It is only when politicians make this kind of speech and think that they can get away with it that it really gets to me.