When you reach the top, you tend to believe that you reached the top in lieu of your own merit, but the true test of whether you have any merit of our own will only be known when you lose your top position.
If you truly had any merit, you will still be valued even when you no longer have a high position.
If you are not valued after you lose your high position however, you should just accept that rather than merit, the reason you made it to the top is due to luck or the favour of others, or that you lost your merit after you made it to the top, and stop expecting people to value you, when you no longer have a high position.
While we cannot say that Mahathir has no merit of his own – that he started from humble beginnings and reached a high position can only be attributed to merit – but what Mahathir does not seem to understand is that merit is not a feature of our identity – just because we were smart, selfless, brave or capable once, it doesn’t mean that we will always be smart, selfless, capable or brave.
Merit is something that can run out. To prevent our merit from running out, we have to stay true to it and continue practising the practises that gains us merit, our entire life.
If for example, we reached the top because we were intelligent, brave and selfless, we have to continue practising being intelligent, brave and selfless even after we reached the top, in order to continue reaping the benefit of being intelligent, brave and selfless.
However, power tends to corrupt.
After one reaches the top, instead of remembering that we reached the top because of our intelligence, selflessness and bravery, many people tend to succumb to corruption of their heart and mind, and start to delusionally believe that there is just something special about them, that entitles them to be treated as intelligent, selfless and brave, despite the fact that they have long ceased to practise being intelligent, selfless or brave.
Power tends to corrupt those who reach the top, because once one has power and position, ones power and position alone is capable of giving one the illusion that one is in possession of merit, even if one does not invest one's time, attention and effort, to accumulate merit.
Before we have power or position, people will only listen to us or respect our wishes, because our thinking and views have merit. Once we have power and position however, they might still listen to us and respect our wishes, although our views and wishes do not have any merit, simply because we have power and position.
If we keep gaining things like respect and obedience, long after we have stopped practising gaining any merit, simply because we have power and hold the top position, we will inevitably come to a point where we believe that it is our due to be obeyed and respected, simply because we believe that there is something special about us.
When a person reaches this point, they will start to have delusional ideas about how they are not subject to the same treatment that others are subject to. At this point, when somebody does something wrong, they can see it, but when they themselves do the same thing, they will not think it is wrong. At this point, they will also likely believe that they are worthy of adulation and respect, even though they do not practise gaining merit, simply because they believe that honour and adulation is tied to their person, instead of their practise.
Although Mahathir rose to prominence due to his merit, after 22 years in power, it is doubtful that he has not been tempted by power to such an extent, tthat he has developed such delusional ideas, like that it is his due to be respected and adulated, even when his failures and shortcomings had exceeded his successes and virtues.
I would even go so far as to say that it is likely because he believed that it was his due to be respected, obeyed and adulated, that his relationship with his successors – be it Pak Lah or Najib, became strained.
Mahathir might have believed that it was his due that Pak Lah and Najib obeyed and respected him, but Pak Lah and Najib might have just respected him because of his power and position.
Once Mahathir no longer had power or position, they simply did not feel it was their due to obey or respect him as much any longer, but Mahathir took it as an affront, simply because he might genuinely believe that his merit was tied to his person, not his practice.
Our merit comes from our dedication to something that is greater than ourselves.
If we dedicate our life to the game of football, for example, those who appreciate the game of football, might honour and respect our views and opinions about the game of football, even after we have retired from the game of football. If we only played football for the sake of getting an income or a making a name for ourselves, we will most likely be forgotten once we stop playing football or stop winning.
Mahathir might have originally dedicated his life for the sake of humanity, nation, race and religion, and that is why he rose to the top once upon a time ago, but after staying too long in power, his dedication to humanity, nation, race and religion had waned, as he started to shift his focus on his own greatness, legacy and the prospects of those who are near and dear to him.
This is why when Mahathir speaks about humanity, nation, race and religion today, less and less people are taking him seriously.
Mahathir might still think that his views are of consequence, because he remembers himself as how he used to be, but most of us are seeing him as he is, not as he used to be.
If Mahathir was still in power, maybe his words and thoughts are still worth listening to, on account of him having the power to make his views and opinion a reality, but without power, his views and opinions are merely words without meaning, whose value depend chiefly on his past reputation rather than because they possess any intrinsic wisdom or insight.
Considering that this is the state that Mahathir is in today, it is hard to believe Mahathir’s claim, that three world leaders wanted to meet him, but they were prevented from doing so by Anwar.
"There were foreign leaders who asked to meet me. Oh (Anwar said) cannot, cannot meet. (The leaders were) from two or three countries.
"These leaders are my friends, they know me and they came to Malaysia to meet with me but could not," he told the podcast "Apa Cerita".
That Machang MP Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal, would later claim that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was one of the world leader that Anwar denied meeting Mahathir during the former's recent official visit to Malaysia recently also beggars belief.
Erdogan has been a such a friend to Anwar, that the Turkish Embassay had even offered Anwar refuge in 2008, when Anwar was in trouble with the government of Malaysia.
Why would Erdogan, who surely knows of the acrimonious relationship that Anwar has with Mahathir, but has taken Anwar's side for decades, would want to meet Mahathir, when meeting Mahathir also would strain their relationship with Anwar, who is not only his personal friend, but the reigning prime minister of Malaysia.
One might argue that Erdogan might have wanted to meet Mahathir because Mahathir has spoken out earnestly for Palestine, just as Erodogan, but a lot of people in the world speaks for Palestine - the issue however is who listens? Mahathir can use all the word in the dictionary to speak for Palestine, but if the only thing that he can say is what everybody else is already saying about the subject, and if he doesn't have the weight of character to shape anyone's views and mindset in lieu of his character, then why should Erdogan go through so much trouble to meet Mahathir and hear his thoughts?
Mahathir might believe that world leaders might desire to meet him, because they had expressed their admiration and respect for him previously, but to this I will just say that Mahathir is not a Mandela or Lee Kuan Yew, who managed to preserve their merit, after they ceased to hold power.
Mahathir on the other hand, has spent all the merit he had accumulated in his past, to regain power and pursue his self-interest, even when it went against the interest of humanity, nation, race and religion.
Considering that, outside of his close family and friends, he cannot expect that merit alone will be enough to gain him honour and respect, either in the nation or the world at large.
So rather than believe that there were three world leaders who were prevented from meeting Mahathir, as he claimed, I think I would rather just believe Kamil Munim, who is the political secretary to Anwar Ibrahim in his capacity as finance minister, who denied Mahathir’s allegation that Anwar had prevented three foreign leaders from meeting him.
“Who are the leaders (and which) countries they are from?” Kamil asked in a post on X.
“Name them. If not, then (you) are lying to create a negative perception (about Anwar) and gain political sympathy.
“Lying is not good… It is a sin,” Kamil said to denounce Mahathir's claims.
I doubt Mahathir is lying like Kamil believes - I think Mahathir truly believes that world leaders are not meeting him becuase they were prevented to meet him - but I believe he believes so out of delusion, rather than because he is knowingly lying.
I think Mahathir simply believes that world leaders would still come and see him, because he remembers himself as how he used to be, in a world that no longer exists, at a time that has long passed.
As how he is in the world as it is today however, everybody, including world leaders, might have simply forgotten him, or not deem him as important as he deems himself.
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