I've reading postings in malaysiakini and seen several videos of the Mahathir vs Pak Lah spat . While I may have not agreed with many of Dr Mahathir Mohamad's policies during his rule over 22 years, I believed that many like me would agree that he was perhaps the most effective prime minister we ever had.

His policies may have been unpopular, but he ruled our beloved country with bold development plans designed to take Malaysia to a higher level, leading many countries to take another look at his policies. This is especially true with Singapore, our long-time competitor which felt Malaysia was gaining grounds and may one day become more important in this region than them.

During Mahathir's rule, Malaysians were proud and stood tall with our friends and relatives from Singapore. Thailand prime minister had once remarked about his admiration of Mahathir. When I was having holiday overseas, Japanese tourists speak greatly of Mahathir.

I am not going to talk about Mahathir's shortcomings, or as some say his draconian policies, which may have affected the Malaysian economy, but I must say that many people had given him credit for the manner in which he handled the 1997-98 financial crisis, and the pegging of the Malaysian ringgit which many had disagreed. Even foreign economists said that Malaysia was making the wrong move and that we should accept IMF (International Monetary Fund) help. Here, again Mahathir had been proven right.

I will not take away the credit from Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi because he supported Mahathir in his decision to peg the ringgit and all the financial policies implemented during Mahathir's rule. Abdullah and the rest who were in Mahathir's cabinet must also be given credit for supporting his economic policies then.

Whatever Mahathir had achieved during his rule as the PM, credit must also be given to all those ministers who were serving in his cabinet. Likewise, they should be equally responsible for all the mistakes, or reckless decisions, made by Mahathir during his years as PM.

Today, we are witnessing a very peculiar situation. Ministers who had served in his cabinet are running him down over the decisions he had made as PM. They must realised that if the decisions made by Mahathir when he was PM were wrong, they the ministers who had served him in the government, are equally responsible for his "misdeeds". This include our present prime minister.

Should Mahathir be solely responsible for the sacking of former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim? Why was there no collective resignation from the cabinet to stop Mahathir from sacking Anwar? Mahathir could not get his way if this had happened. But no, everyone in the cabinet supported Mahathir and hoped to remain in government, some hoping to become the next PM. Well, Abdullah did eventually succeed.

I know what kind of leaders we have today. They are the types who cannot differentiate between right and wrong. We are seeing the same ministers who had given blind support to Mahathir talk about all kinds of rubbish regarding his days as PM.

I know many Malaysians did not agree with many of Mahathir's policies including the sacking of Anwar but they had the guts to voice out their opinions, and some had paid a price being sent to jail for fighting for Anwar's freedom. Many left Umno to set up Keadilan because they did not agree with Mahathir on this.

Similarly, during the Umno crisis, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and his gang left Umno to set up Semangat 46 - all because they could not work with Mahathir. There is at least some form of self-respect for these people who left Umno and fought Mahathir.

What we have in the Abdullah's cabinet now is a bunch of Mahathir 'yesmen'. It's only now when Mahathir is no more PM that they are going against him and saying all kinds of rubbish against the man who once they were too afraid to say no because they feared their positions in his cabinet. What breed of leaders do we have?

I do not think Mahathir is wrong to voice his frustration. In fact, he has the right as a Malaysian to say what he thinks is not right. The people who call him to shut up are the same ones who had no guts to speak out during his rule.

Mahathir should be allowed to speak, more so because he had been PM for the country for over two decades.

I have disagree with Mahathir on many issues and also supported him sometimes. But I fully support him on this issue - his right to speak out. It his democratic right. Let him talk.

He cannot be a PM again, so why worry? For those who had opposed Mahathir rule during his days as PM have every right to continue to oppose him, but for those who had blindly supported him, and even worse, for those who had been in his cabinet, they have lost their right to speak out against him. It is they who should shut up.