COMMENT | It was John Maynard Keynes who said: "When the facts change, I change my view". The philosophy served him well.

Keynes could see ahead of time. When France punished Germany with a heavy penalty after World War I, Keynes knew that Germany would rise again to seek its revenge.

True enough, within a short generation of 20 years after the conclusion of the Versailles Treaty in 1919, Nazi was led by Hitler, wrecking damage on the whole of Europe.

Did Keynes insist on more revenge against Germany? No. True to form when the facts change, he changed his opinion.

After Second World War, Keynes was among the few to insist that Germany has to be integrated into Europe to keep the whole region safe.

Statesmanship is about peering into the future. Under Dr Mahathir Mohamad, well before Malaysia knew what was Vision 2020, he had spoken at the Malaysian Business Council in 1990 on the importance of creating a country that was morally and economically strong.

In contrast, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has run the ship aground with allegedly the brazen RM44 billion mismanagement, of which the likes of Khairul Azwan, the Umno Youth vice-chief, is still in denial. It is as if 1MDB is "Pi Mai Pi Mai Tang Tu" (Come and go, come and go, and it’s OK too).

Well, too bad for Najib. Mahathir did not earn his "Tunship" by sheer ingratiation. If he did, the award would have been withdrawn given the government's accusations that he has sold the country down the river with a wave and a bye...