I was amused and disgusted at the same time to read Yong CC's letter titled PM's firm hand needed for 10 years (April 22).

His perception of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad is clearly myopic. While Mahathir may be seen as a wizard in political trickery by some quarters, that alone does not make him a worthy statesperson.

Far from being honest and moral, he chose the path of despotism and tyranny for his survival after a large segment of the Malay Muslim populace rejected him outright for allegedly violating cardinal Islamic principles and values, notably the slanderous persecution saga of Anwar Ibrahim.

Besides that, well-informed and fair-minded Malaysians are fully aware that Mahathir's politics is wrought with allegations and reports of power abuse, coupled with the triple curse of cronyism, nepotism and corruption.

If such a leader is virtually deified and glorified purely for political reasons, and kept in power, after serving for more than 20 years, not only will he face a natural loss of popularity for overstaying, but he will also have to compromise democracy to remain in power.

When creativity and freedom are curtailed, the consequences are obvious; the nation will suffer from a serious lack of the creative spirit and energy, which are so vital for the progress of a civilisation.

The culture of corruption and fear will also be allowed to flourish, thereby defiling the moral and civil values that have been so carefully nurtured by the founding generation of an independent democratic government.

Being firm and being firmly undemocratic are two different things. Mahathir is hell-bent on the latter and strangulating democracy to ensure his survival. This is detrimental for holistic human development and is usually practised by dictators, tyrants and despots when they lose popular support. Mahathir is trapped in this awkward situation.

It is definitely a fallacy to conclude that there cannot be a better leader than Mahathir. If he is considered the model of a great leader, then our standards of excellence in leadership are questionable.

His other weakness is his fantasy that there is no one better than him to lead the country, hence his destruction of all those who threaten his reign. It is this weakness that has impaired the process of leadership development.

My belief is that there are and will be many leaders who are far better and honest at that, but are denied the opportunity to rise because of this myth. Such a deception has in fact obscured Yong CCs vision, as can be seen in his belief that Mahathir should remain the leader for 10 more years.

Malaysia is losing potentially good leaders because of the myth propagated in the media that are mere political propaganda tools. The havoc of Mahathir's oppression will come to greater light when his power is gone and the truth emerged to put the record straight. This strikes fear in Mahathir, who will undoubtedly make sure he will die with his boots on to avoid the dangerous consequences that might come after he retires, which we know for sure will not happen.