I refer to the Malaysiakini report Mahathir urges gov't to welcome Mugabe .

Robert Mugabe has single handedly turned one of Africa’s more prosperous countries after independence in the 80’s into an economic wasteland. The rate of inflation is at an unimaginable - 100,000% and where a loaf of bread, if any are available, cost 7 million Zimbabwe dollars, equivalent to US$0.68. The biggest denomination of the Zimbabwe dollar is $10,000,000; making the currency slightly more valuable than the Monopoly notes.

In order to stay in power with the odds stacked against him, repression and oppression were the order of the day. He seized fertile farm lands from white Zimbabweans on the pretext of giving them to poor blacks. Instead, he distributed them to his family, friends and cronies who neglected them and dried up the crops and in turn, starved the country.

The media is unsurprisingly pro-Zanu-PF (Mugabe’s ruling party) and where any dissent is swiftly crushed (opposition leader and presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai was severely beaten by police when he led protests last year). Results of previous elections were allegedly rigged and sanctions were imposed as a result of this by Western powers.

Many parallels can be drawn between Mugabe and Mahathir’s rule. One glaring exception is that instead of driving this country to ruin, Mahathir vigorously pursued industrialisation to make Malaysia a modern, progressive nation. Unfortunately, this has come at a price. Democratic freedoms have to take a back seat to economic development.

Mahathir views Mugabe as a hero. Not because he is a brilliant statesman, but because he stood up to the West. In both their eyes, the woes affecting the Zimbabweans are the result of Western sanctions rather than Mugabe’s own doings.

Therefore, Mahathir’s urging of the government to allow Mugabe to live in exile here in Malaysia is hardly surprising. If Mugabe chooses to do so and is granted exile status by or government, Mugabe will escape being answerable to his people and get away scot-free.