As I was listening to Dr Mahathir Mohamad's speech at the Umno annual general assembly yesterday, I could not help thinking that the man is really full of bitterness.

The scathing attacks on his foreign critics ("their intense hatred towards Malaysia and its leadership"), the reformasi movement ("these idiots"), PAS (" pengkhianat bangsa, agama dan negara ", or traitors to the nation, religion and country) and his facial expression when he said those words, were most uncharacteristic of a mature leader especially in the presence of invited foreign dignitaries.

Is that what the presidential address and Umno general assembly is all about - a time to criticise others rather than to review self, a time for reaction rather than vision and action?

He blamed Umno's and the government's woes on everyone - the colonialists, the foreigners and anything foreign, globalisation, the opposition and everyone else including the Malays, but never on himself or the party he leads.

On the other hand, he and Umno take credit for all good things that happen to the Malays. While he considered it distasteful for the foreigners and others to be so critical of him, he did not realise that his criticism of them is just as distasteful.

He criticised the hudud laws and asserted that the situation during Prophet Muhammad's time and the present are not the same.

In his attacks on PAS he also cited selected passages of the Quran, perhaps to show he is as religious and as knowledgeable about Islam as the next man - or as alim (pious) as the ulamak (religious scholar).

"Is it a democratic government if everything must be referred to a group of ulamaks who are not even elected by the people," he said. Little did he realise that such remarks were bound to hurt some of the Muslims in his audience. He has gone beyond attacking PAS. He was criticising all true Muslims.

While the cutting off of hands and stoning to death may appear barbaric to him, he did not realise that denying justice to his political detractors by detaining them under the Internal Security Act (ISA) is even worse. He has cut off innocent people from their family and loved ones, cut off their livelihood and means of support, not to mention the damage to their self-respect. This in the 21st century is true barbarism.

The Umno president spent much time tracing the early struggle of the party (what role did he play in it?) and detailing the current plight of the Malays (what is Umno doing about it?).

He should have compared Malaysia with the developed rather than the underdeveloped countries.

In the 55 years of Umno's fighting to uplift the position of the Malays, the last 15 years have undone much of the achievements of the previous 40 years.

No doubt some Malays are better off compared with before independence, but as a race the Malays have lost a lot of ground since. They are severely split and their political power has become critically diluted. Relative to the non-Malays they are in fact worse off.

The Malays have been grievously let down (through corruption and cronyism) by the very party that was formed to protect them. Harapkan pagar, pagar makan padi (betrayed by the very person entrusted to protect us).

Umno is being destroyed by enemies within. While glorifying the past and making childish excuses for the present, Mahathir has failed to convince me and the Malays that Umno is up to the task of regenerating the Malays.

Instead of seeking written answers from PAS on how it proposes to govern the country (which is none of Umno's business unless it is seeking some directions), the Umno president-cum-Malaysian-premier should be providing answers to what the present government is doing to promote national unity and what it would do, should the economic cake shrink instead of expand, as necessary for the social re-engineering. Or what the government is doing to accommodate the millions of immigrant workers, their growing families, the attendant social problems, and what it will do when unemployment gets worse.

You don't make yourself great by making others small. Today, you are a powerful hero, tomorrow? Wahai Mahathir, tidakkah anda sedar? (Dear Mahathir, when will you wake up?)