Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today said his nascent blog has achieved a milestone - it registered one million hits in the short period of one month.

chedet mahathir blog 020508 According to Mahathir, who launched his blog on May 1, some bloggers have suggested that the feat “may be a world record of sorts”.

But he was quick to add: “I do not know whether it is.”

“Touching one million hits among bloggers seem to be something to be celebrated. I was told that most bloggers will congratulate each other when one of them hits the million mark, and call the one millionaire,” said the 82-year-old fledgling blogger in a posting this afternoon.

Within two hours after Mahathir made the announcement, his 'chedet.com' blog has received over 100 congratulatory messages from readers.

The man who was seen as the prime mover in turning Malaysia into a technology hub said he did not anticipate one day he would take up blogging.

“Much as I saw the importance of cyberspace during my tenure as prime minister and hence my commitment to the setting up of Cyberjaya and pursuing the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC), I did not envisage that I would one day be a blogger,” he wrote.

Dr M has been updating his blog diligently

Mahathir has been updating his blog diligently since he returned from Japan after speaking at the annual Nikkei conference, which was also attended by his handpicked successor-turn-nemesis Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Last week, Mahathir sent shockwaves with his sudden resignation from Umno, the party which he had once led for 22 years.

In his blog, Mahathir said the government, which suffered its worst ever electoral setback two months ago, had finally recognised the importance of the blogs.

According to him, the mainstream media are “now quoting from the blog and even dare to write on formerly forbidden subjects”.

“This is to be expected as many people no longer read the mainstream papers or watch television. The NST (Umno-linked New Straits Times) circulation has been reduced to an average of 135,000 daily including free and discounted copies for hotels, schools and airlines,” said Mahathir, who when he was premier had consistently justified the need to clamp down on the media.

“Unless there is instruction to spin news from certain quarters, the mainstream media might become irrelevant.”