COMMENT | Sharp as he was and is, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad rattled off his speech to the international community at 11.40am EST in a shaky voice, befitting a 93-year-old man's cranking of the vocal cords.

He spoke with a slight Kedah Malay twang, at times swallowing his words and mispronouncing a few. Perhaps the long trip to New York, jet lag, and age itself contributed to an unsmooth and forceless start. Behind the light golden frame of his glasses, his eyes look puffed, and heavy with bags. He looked tired and groggy. But he was making his comeback, and the global community to know it.

Five minutes into the speech, he went right into trumpeting the idea of a 'new Malaysia', a slogan more and more now picked up by many Malaysians in their emails and WhatsApp messages – replacing the old "Salam 1Malaysia" which recalls 1MDB, now synonymous with the mysterious and puzzling grand theft of the nation's coffers, the people's savings, by Malaysia's crime ministers and their merry band of more than thieves, including those in turbans and green robes.

So, the grand old man – a veritable GOP of one, or the Vito Corleone of Malaysian politics – spoke at length about the new regime's commitment to ensuring the country's equitable share of the nation's wealth.

"My last speech here was in 2003, and fifteen years later, the world has not changed much. In fact, it is worse now," he lamented.

Against the jade-green UN General Assembly wall, he spoke of Malaysia's foreign policy of "prosper thy neighbour." He spoke with a heightened tone of how in May he overthrew race and religious bigotry to destroy the dominant 60-old party he led for 22-years, at a time when there was still no term limit. A time of consolidation of power, inspired by what Niccolò Machiavelli taught to the prince...