Mahathir Mohamad is not a man to sit quietly in the wings when something pricks his interest. Upon retiring in 2003, Mahathir did remain in the shadows, quietly stocking his personal book library and even opening a bakery in Langkawi. But it wasn't long before he jumped in again and as usual, he chose the deep end of the pool.
His luckless opponent was none other than Abdullah Badawi, his chosen successor. But cordial though their relationship had been, when Badawi began dismantling several of Mahathir's high profile projects, the older man didn't like it and made it known that he wasn't happy anymore. But dismantling the projects was not enough for the Abdullah, who was then keen to polish his reformist badge. Badawi did the unthinkable, he even released Mahathir's arch enemy, Anwar Ibrahim, whom Mahathir had taken great pains to put in jail. Then the final icing on the cake, Badawi charged Mahathir’s long time friend, Eric Chia, for criminal breach of trust.




