COMMENT The spot of contention between Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim over whether the former prime minister had indeed taken loans from the World Bank during the period of the Asian financial crisis (1997-1998) is interesting in the way it is reminiscent of an episode at the tailend of the premiership of Hussein Onn.

The matter concerned Malaysia’s attempt to corner the tin market on the London exchange which resulted in the collapse of the price of the commodity in 1981, with consequent huge losses to the country’s exchequer.

It was called the Maminco Affair, details of which began to seep into the public domain a few years after the collapse of the price of tin, once a top-earning commodity to the country...