COMMENT | Pundits have mused on the similarities and differences between Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Singapore's progenitor, Lee Kuan Yew, who died in March 2015.

Some time back this news portal intrigued readers with a disquisition by a longtime Singaporean observer of the political goings-on in this region, on how the two strongmen were alike and different.

Because Mahathir's and Lee's lives were contemporaneous, spanning the period from pre-colonial times to their countries' struggle for independence and its aftermath, and because their careers were similarly engaged in forging their polities in the postcolonial era, the temptation is there to dwell on parallels and contrasts.