Former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad today said some people are born to be leaders while others learn to become one. However, he said, there are also leaders who are mere followers.

"If you lead and you look behind you and there are no followers, then you are not a leader either," he told the 35th World Conference and Exhibition on Training and Development at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center.

Mahathir, who was answering a question from the floor on leadership, said a leader "must know what his followers want him to do."

He added that while a leader must not neglect his followers wishes, he must also chart his own course and be innovative.

"If you don't know what to do and keep on asking the followers 'what do you want me to do? and 'what do you want me to be?', then, of course, you are not the leader. They are the leaders," he said, to a resounding applause and laughter from the audience of about 1,000.

"The line dividing the leaders from the followers is very thin. A leader must be really quite active and able to evaluate things in order to stay as a leader. If you cannot, ask somebody else (to be the leader)," he added.

Cars and education

In his speech earlier, the 81-year-old former premier, who led the country for more than two decades until 2003, also touched on whether Malaysians should continue with an English-oriented education system.

He said this system emphasised on the 'acquisition of knowledge' as opposed to the 'application of knowledge'.

To illustrate his point, Mahathir drew an analogy based on a subject close to his heart - cars.

Comparing the competitiveness and quality of German-produced cars as opposed to UK-made vehicles, he said the visibility of more German cars today was testimony to the effectiveness of that country's education system.

"In (the past), you see a lot of Morris, Austin and Wolseley cars. Do you see them now? (Now) you may see Rolls Royce and Bentley, but they are all made in Germany," he said.

"I myself use a BMW now," said Mahathir, who is the advisor to Malaysian car manufacturer Proton. However, he quickly added: "I use a Proton once in while."

Mahathir also recounted the rapid rise of Japan. Despite being destroyed during the Second World War, he said the country went on to become among the most competitive economies in the world.

Clever people

The former premier then lamented the number of 'clever people' who graduated from Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, and other such institutions of higher learning but did not know how to apply their learning constructively to the development of the country.

"You know what happens when you have a lot of clever people: They spend their time arguing with each other and disagreeing with each other. So they don't produce anything. A lot of hot air, perhaps," he said, which was also met with laughter from the audience.

"We need people who are able to do things...They must have both knowledge as well as application of that knowledge," he added.

Asked by malaysiakini later if his speech was in reference to his successor Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his Oxford graduate son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin, Mahathir replied with a broad smile: "I don't know, I don't know, I don't know..."

Mahathir has been crossing swords with the current administration over certain decisions, namely the scrapping of the half bridge project.

The former premier has also questioned Khairy's influence over Abdullah, while other critics have labelled the 31-year-old Umno Youth deputy chief as the country's de facto prime minister.

Both Abdullah and Khairy have denied the allegation.

Today's conference was officiated by Abdullah.