He is so old, when he asks for a three-minute egg, they ask for the money up-front. – Comedian George Burns

In two weeks, Dr Mahathir Mohamad will be 99. 

Imagine that!

It was Woody Allen who proffered this advice: “You can live to a hundred if you give up all the things that make you want to live to a hundred.” 

But one doubts it when it comes to the old man. He doesn’t look as if he’s given up anything he likes. The man continues to give interviews, he still rides horses, and, deep down, he probably still hankers to be premier if only because he knows there’s no one better. 

Don’t forget we’re talking about a man who went through his teenage years when the Dead Sea only had a minor cold. 

Dr Mahathir himself ascribes it to good genes albeit by way of a cryptic one liner: “You have to choose your parents carefully.” 

In the process, he’s junked most of the beliefs he once seemed to hold dear. 

In 1994, I attended a closed-door dialogue with the leadership, then Dr M and Anwar Ibrahim. The audience were all non-Malays from all over the country and we were encouraged to ask anything we liked. 

I asked Dr M this question which, on hindsight, appears dreadfully ironic, given the circumstances of the last thirty years. 

At the time, Dr M was famed for his so-called Vision 2020 which aimed for “a single race, free and equal under the Malaysian sun”. It seemed to imply that by 2020, there would be no more discrimination for or against anyone, that all Malaysians would be “equal”.  

So, I asked the question. “What guarantees do we, the non-Malays, have that your successor, whoever he is, will have the same allegiance to 2020 as you do? I ask this only because it’s likely you won’t be around when that time comes.” 

Now you know what Henry Ford meant when he scoffed at history being mostly “bunk.” 

At the time, however, Mahathir agreed that there were no guarantees but went on to extol Anwar Ibrahim, asserting that he was his successor who would push 2020 through. Indeed, the then-premier said Anwar reminded him of “my younger self.” 

Talk of “tempting fate.” 

Less than five years later, Anwar would be sacked and, later, jailed. Dr M, himself, would step down as premier in 2004 when he was 77. 

Incredibly, he came back as PM in 2018 when he was in his early 90s. He returned, however promising to hand over power to a now-pardoned Anwar. 

He also admitted that he’d never believed in Vision 2020 but never thought he’d live to see the day either. 

No one talks about Vision 2020 anymore and Anwar Ibrahim never succeeded Dr M. 

But he did become premier much to the old man’s chagrin. And he still is, despite the best efforts of many quarters including guess-who. 

It’s been a surreal turn of events, where the reality has turned out to be stranger than fiction. 

But the grand old man of politics continues to make statements, mostly about how everyone who’s succeeded him has always been found wanting.

In fact, the older he gets, the better Dr M realises he was. 

ENDS