Malaysian Prime Minister Dato Seri Dr Mahathir Mohammad seems to be under a lot of pressure nowadays. And it shows!

Mahathir is superb when presenting a speech from a prepared text. In his speech there would be certain “targets” he would attack and he would skillfully take aim and shoot – normally dead center. It is when he is “ambushed” by the press and is not prepared for the questions that Mahathir is not his best. In these situations, he would “shoot from the hip” and his shots would go wild, making him look quite silly.

Mahathir has shown one thing, he performs well when he is sniping at his targets or shooting someone in the back. Very few can withstand his onslaught and, by the time he is finished, his quarry is finished – torn down in a hail of bullets. But, when he is drawn out in a gunfight, Mahathir is not too quick on the draw and comes away looking not the master that he tries to portray himself.

Recently, when the newsmen asked Mahathir about the rumours of the resignation of Finance Minister Tun Daim Zainuddin, he at first denied such a thing. Then Daim resigned revealing Mahathir had misled the press. Then, when asked who would replace Daim, Mahathir said he is still looking around, trying to pick someone up from the streets who could take over.

It was a silly statement for any standards, and one unbecoming of someone of a Prime Minister’s stature.

When asked his comments about the University of Malaya fire, he replied the hall probably burnt itself down. This reply was meant to be cynical, but cynicism is an art and, even after all these years, Mahathir does not seem to have mastered the art of cynic.

In the Australian Broadcasting Corporation documentary, Mahathir was asked about the Anwar Ibrahim trial. Clearly irritated at being taken by surprise, he replied, “What do we brown-skins know about justice?” Mahathir added that only white skins know justice, and that is why so many brown-skins sleep on the streets. The bigotry remark was totally irrelevant to the question asked.

Mahathir is losing his cool. And, when he does, he is normally not in control. He needs to calm down and face the issue rather than try to parry the blows by brushing off the questions with cynicism.

Foreign observers are watching Malaysia and Mahathir. They can see Mahathir is not as articulate as before. Normally, irritation sets in when you feel you are no longer in control. And Mahathir is very irritated nowadays indicating he is losing control.

Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah once said that Mahathir is at his best when under pressure. The more you attack Mahathir, the better he fights back. Mahathir, in fact, needs pressure to excel. Leave him alone, and he does not perform his best. Therefore, one is doing him a favour by putting on the pressure, as this allows him to perform which otherwise he would not.

That was Tengku Razaleigh’s opinion back in the mid-80s. That may have been true, once-upon-a-time, for in Mahathir’s younger days he was a fighter who survived many a political crisis. But times have changed. Not only has Mahathir changed - so have the people. It is not so easy to brush the people off as irrelevant anymore. The people matter and so do their opinions. Mahathir cannot ignore the people just because he is the Prime Minister and chide them for questioning him with the retort that he, as Prime Minister, knows best and no one better question him.

Mahathir’s main irritation is not so much that he is being “ambushed” with difficult questions, but rather that anyone would even dare question him. And this is why he has no time to be nice to people who ask him questions he feels no need to answer.