'Unromantic' Dr M feels queer love in the air

In the not-too-distant past, Dr Mahathir Mohamad had shocked his audience when he proffered a humorous lament about his penis dying before him.

Since then, Mahathir had been too engrossed with politics and championing the Malay race against the threats posed by those who have thrown their weight behind his heir apparent turned nemesis, whose sexual orientation, according to the former premier, got him fired up.

But after being discharged from the hospital following a chest infection this week, Mahathir decided to pen his thoughts about love, or at least on its more unorthodox manifestations.

"Two reports in the local papers attracted my attention. They are about love - the irresistible emotion which drives us to do great things," he revealed in his blog, Che Det.

The first article concerned a question posed by a man as to why he could not marry the man he loves.

Despite admitting that he was not a romantic person, the former premier stressed that marriage was indeed "about lovers marrying each other."

"It has nothing to do about procreation of the species by man and woman. If a woman loves a woman, that is enough for them to marry. And the same when a man marries a man.

"(But) imagine when this becomes the culture and practice of the human race. We would not need family planning; no condoms, no birth-control pills, and no human race before the century is out. Man's will be done," he said with his trademark homophobic sarcasm.

Another report on love, which caught Mahathir's eye, concerned incest.

"It's about a daughter's love for her father. She had been having sex with her father willingly for the past three years. So she asks why cannot she have sex with someone she loves. Yes. Why not?

"There is nothing wrong physiologically? She may have a child by her father. So what! Goats and cows mate with their fathers and grandfathers.

"The scientists talk about passing on the bad genes. Religious people and narrow-minded moralists simply forbid such relations. But today we believe in freedom and human rights. And of course free love. Why should we be restricted in any way," he added.

I'm no romantic but...

If that is the case, Mahathir asked why restrict this to daughters who love their fathers, what about sons who love their mothers?

"Then there are sisters who love their brothers vice-versa, nieces who love their uncles vice-versa and nephews who love their aunties. They all should be entitled to sexual relations.

"But love does not stop there. People love pets. They love cats and dogs and horses. Should bestiality also be part of love? It would be a great world with everybody loving everybody else. It would make a great civilisation based on endless love," he added.

Mahathir said that he believes love to be the most noble of human emotions.

"It is something that can be felt but never truly described. But today love simply means having sex. And that is all there is to it.

"I am no romantic. But still I feel the people today, especially the young are missing something," he added.

To his credit, Mahathir has been accused of a slew of misdeeds but not philandering. He is said to be a devoted husband to Dr Siti Hasmah Ali.

However, it is not clear what his daughter, Marina - a well-known supporter of the LBGT (lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender) community - thinks about his musings.