I refer to the Malaysiakini report A gripping account of the Mahathir years .

I thank Richard YW Yeoh for taking the trouble to review my book, Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times , and for his generous praise of my account of the former prime minister's career. I wish to respond to a couple of factual points.

1. Yeoh faults me for repeating ‘the commonly-held view’ that Malaysia's ruling coalition first lost its two-thirds parliamentary majority in the March 2008 general election. He says this was accomplished by the combined opposition in May 1969.

In fact, it is incorrect to state flatly that the coalition lost its two-thirds majority 39 years earlier.

In 1969, voting was suspended after the ruling Alliance obtained 66 of 114 seats on the Peninsula.

It remained theoretically possible for the government to obtain a two-thirds majority after the resumption of voting in Sabah and Sarawak.

Eventually, it finished with 95 of 144 seats (66%), plus a promise of support from the Sarawak United People's Party (Supp), giving it more than two-thirds support.

Indeed, the Barisan Nasional's 85 of 165 peninsular seats in 2008 was even worse than 66 from 114 in 1969 (51.5% of seats compared with 58%).

The overall percentage of peninsular votes for BN (49.1%) was marginally lower in 1969 (48.5%).

2. Yeoh also says I am wrong to describe Anwar Ibrahim's first trial as the longest in Malaysia's history, when that ‘dubious distinction’ belongs to Irene Fernandez.

Fernandez had a 13-year legal battle that included a trial delayed by lengthy postponements.

The fact remains that when the case against Anwar closed on 1 April 1999, court proceedings were the longest for any trial held in the country.