Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had never been so forthright and frank. Last week, he bared his soul to, of all people, the Japanese. In his monthly "World Analysis" column, which he writes for Japan's Mainichi Shimbun, he berated the loss of four of his ministers and for being shunned by a large number of Malays.

This, he said, was unfathomable. After all, a government that had turned the economy around should not be so harshly punished by the voters. He accused the Malay ingrates for not backing Barisan Nasional despite being the main beneficiaries of government handouts.

At the same time, he chastised PAS for having the temerity to buy votes by promising "heaven in the afterlife", while dismissing DAP as "extremely chauvinistic Chinese". This, for some people, is very much a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

The people, Mahathir added, "assume that those in power and in a position to be corrupt must be corrupt". "Proof of corruption is not necessary," he added. "Similarly, the success of anyone in business, whether they are friends or children of leaders or not, must be due to cronyism and nepotism."

Perhaps Mahathir was attempting to pull wool over the eyes of the Japanese, or that he - and the media - have forgotten that it had been four years since the report highlighting irregularities in the management of Perwaja Steel was tabled in Parliament, and still no action has been taken against Eric Chia, the person who was in charge of the ailing state-owned corporation.

Moreover, it has been two years that a memorandum was handed to the Anti-Corruption Agency requesting it to investigate how Mahathir's three sons - Mirzan, Mukriz and Mokhzani - had acquired ownership and control over some 200 companies in a short span of a few years. The ACA responded with a stony silence.

It has also been two years since MCA chief Ling Liong Sik was asked to explain how his twenty-something son was able to amass assets worth more than a billion ringgit. That, too, no answer from the powers-that-be. And it has been one year since sacked deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim alleged that Mahathir stopped ACA from taking punitive action after it unearthed evidence of corruption against Minister of Trade and Industry Rafidah Aziz. Again, there has been no explanation from the parties said to be involved.

Sure, Mahathir can insist that all these are not quite prove of corruption. However, when nothing is done about such "assumptions" of corruption, Malaysians - and Japanese - can only draw the conclusion that the government has indeed something rotten to hide.

On Saturday, the Umno Supreme Council meeting will get down to the ugly business of purging party turncoats in areas where it did badly in the recent elections. It is clear that Mahathir blames just about everyone but himself for the disastrous Umno showing in the Malay heartland. After all, as the party's undisputed leader, he is above criticism.

In Thailand, journalists often joke that there are two institutions in their country that are beyond reproach: the royal family and, of course, the media. It is, they pointed out, a case of "The King and I". Perhaps the same can be said about Malaysia.