Personally, I saw a tired old man having trouble hearing and comprehending the convoluted questions being lobbed at him, and failing to grasp abstractions and correctly cite facts, all while displaying no particular eloquence in expressing his views. Yet, I also saw an audience that seemed to have little appreciation for the political feat Mahathir had pulled off in Malaysia, and how his success might be a source of inspiration for deeply divided societies in the West struggling to forge a new democratic consensus.
SINGAPORE (Jan 28): It seems that most people simply saw what they wanted to see when Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad addressed the Oxford Union just over a week ago.
Many Malaysians saw a national leader who had saved their country being justly feted on the world stage. On the other hand, some newspaper editors in Israel saw a rabid anti-Semite being accorded a high-profile platform to spout hate speech. Meanwhile, lots of Singaporeans saw a long-time tormentor getting a comeuppance of sorts at the hands of an outspoken individual named Darrion Mohan.
