COMMENT | I have nothing but quiet sympathy for the grand old man. Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s ‘Malay Proclamation’ has attracted a lukewarm response, at best.

This coming from the 98-year-old dreamer who believes he is the only one who can save the Malay race must be very disappointing, humiliating even.

Many Malays have been sympathetic, albeit on the sidelines, to this rejection of the nonagenarian, and the non-Malays, including myself, have been trying to understand whether it is Mahathir himself who needed help badly or the Malay community.

Take a look at the recent photo of Mahathir and PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang - two frail, old men who could barely help themselves but still insist that they are the saviours of the Malays.

The photo call was when Hadi met up with the former prime minister to ink the ‘Malay People's Proclamation’ - a document which urged Malays to...