The loss of confidence in Dr Mahathir Mohamad is wholly understandable, if the current state of affairs is anything to go by. It seems he is a man with his back against the wall and has, of late, made utterances and policies of the hoof. He seems no longer in control of events and tends to be reactive rather than pro-active in the way he governs the country.

This could possibly account for the rapid decline in respect for and confidence in him by the people and moreover, his refusal to accept personal responsibility for the many wounds inflicted upon the country only compounds his predicament. It seems rather foolish of him to blame everyone else but himself for things that have gone wrong.

It is simply not plausible to keep on apportioning blame onto others when he literally has full control and absolute power over most events and the lives of all Malaysians. Although Dr Mahathir's intellect is not of the same calibre as someone like Lee Kuan Yew, the former prime minister of Singapore, his political shrewdness has allowed him to survive in politics all these years, albeit his political fortune is now on the decline.

To substantiate the point I made in relation to his desperation, just before the last general elections, Dr Mahathir gave a sympathetic hearing to the grievances of the Chinese concerning equal opportunities for all races and said he would consider the matter. As soon as the general elections was over, not only did he disregarded all those grievances out of hand but added insult to injury by calling those who brought the grievances to his attention as communists.

After all that, can we take Dr Mahathir at face value? This one example alone makes him transparent, insincere, dishonest, underhanded and spiteful. It is also not very clever of him to treat people as if they were subservient and could easily be discarded at his convenience.

His recent comment regarding the need to bail out Renong and UEM for the sake of the employees may seem altruistic but he fools no one. Why should the Malays who run big businesses, especially well-connected ones, excel themselves when they know other national and international businesses will have to fight hard to compete with them because of the unlimited support in every shape or form from the government and at the end of the day, if bankruptcy looms large, Dr Mahathir will be there to bail them out?

The positive discrimination in favour of the Malays sanctioned by Dr Mahathir may be a political expediency in appeasing the Malays but this political ideology is short-sighted and damaging not only to the Malays in terms of perpetuating an eternal culture of dependency, but also to the whole country.

Dr Mahathir's recent change of mind concerning entry to universities on merit is not based on his conviction. He is merely spiteful and reckons the Malay students are so easily manipulated that his carrot-and-stick approach will compel them back to the fold. He must think again and again before he spurts out his next dictate. One ponders what his ministers are for when he makes profound decisions on behalf of their ministries.

In order to salvage what's left of his reputation and credibility, he should start treating people with respect and not insult their intelligence. He should get rid of cronies and sycophants who swear he walks on water. He ought to surround himself with genuine people of substance, who have the courage to stand up to him. In any event, Dr Mahathir has indeed lost the plot and moral high ground.

Sadly, he no longer commands the respect of the people and therefore this is an opportune time for him to seriously consider his own position bearing in mind the age-old adage, "when one is in a hole, one should stop digging".