Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad smiles during the Bloomberg Business Forum in New York September 26, 2018. — Picture via Twitter

NEW YORK, Sept 27 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is back in the international spotlight, and has wasted no time in making his presence and views known.

“The greatest political comeback ever,” said TV commentator Fareed Zakaria in describing the newly minted Malaysian Prime Minister after his participation in the Bloomberg Business Forum here yesterday.

“I once interviewed Dr Mahathir when he was a young 70-year-old,” said Fareed.

In just his second day here, Dr Mahathir attended and addressed three meetings where he was the star besides giving an interview with Washington Post.

His caustic comments and direct answers drew claps and laughter from the attendees here.

Being in the US did not deter Dr Mahathir from hitting out at President Donald Trump on his home soil — something not many world leaders would be willing to do.

Earlier, when at a dialogue with the Council of Foreign Relations, the 93-year-old remarked:

“I think the US president is a very powerful man. Whatever he does affects the whole world so it’s a question of personality not so much a nation. I don’t think Americans are in full agreement with your president all the time. But this one, I think more Americans are unhappy with the president than at other times with other presidents.”

Asked what advice he would give Trump, Dr Mahathir said:

“Be consistent. Be consistent. If you want to fight us say you want to fight us. If you don’t want to fight us and you want to be friends say so and be friends.”

Dr Mahathir also reminded his audience that Trump was not going to be president for a long time, saying, “I have gone through many Presidents of the United States and each one has got different ideas”.

This is a classic ‘Dr Mahathir’ remark.

Although he adopted a more accommodating tone when talking about China, saying that Malaysia are friends with the world’s most populous country, he pointed out that a rich China was just as worrying as a poor China.

“China is there and China is going to play a bigger role in world affairs, so one has to learn to live with China. Malaysia has lived with China for 2,000 years and we know a little bit about them and we have survived. Small little Malaysian states have survived many centuries being with neighbours more powerful including China.”

At the Bloomberg forum, Dr Mahathir was again candid with his answers.

Asked about combating corruption in Malaysia, he said: “The first thing we need to do, of course, is for the leaders not to be corrupt. If the leader is corrupt then there’s no way we’re going to stop corruption from spreading. In any country there would be corruption to some degree but the idea is to keep corruption to a minimum and that is done by what we call leadership by example.

“If the leader is not corrupt, then there will be less corruption in the system. So that is what we are doing now, we are now very serious in imposing restrictions on the Cabinet including the Prime Minister, all of them would have to declare their assets, properties and earnings. They would be scrutinised not by the politicians but by officers.

“So we’re doing everything we can to reduce or even eliminate corruption. At this moment, people feel very convinced that we have actually put a stop to the gross kinds of corruption that characterised the previous Government.”

At both functions, his age and health also drew attention.

Fareed asked how he manage to stay as healthy and mentally active and what he ate.

“I do keep to a strict diet. I don’t overeat. I do a little exercise, and I have six hours of sleep. If you live a fairly well regulated life you would survive. But if you get some disease which is incurable, there’s nothing you can do.”

He has a total of 18 meetings or events to attend in his five-day trip here — a schedule that is tough for even those half his age.

From here, Dr Mahathir will go to the UK on Saturday where he is scheduled for many more functions.

One thing is for sure: The international audiences cannot get enough of him.