Mahathir's Blog

A Hit With Malaysians
By Reme Ahmad, Assistant Foreign Editor

TWO million hits in less than two months.

The blog of former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has become the fastest-rising new website in Malaysia, with many of his postings attracting hundreds of comments.

But not all who visit www.chedet.com are his fans. Some also attack his views and his 22-year rule as prime minister.

Still, the 82-year old politician is happy with his blog because he said it has allowed him to bypass the mainstream media, which he claimed has ignored him.

'Now I'm glad I have my blog. At least I can say something,' Malaysiakini quoted Dr Mahathir as saying at a press conference on Thursday.

He was also blase about the criticisms hurled at him on the blog.

'I don't seem to be unpopular when I meet people. If you care to read my blog, so many people make comments. Some were adverse comments, but the majority are quite supportive of what I said.'

Top blogger Ahirudin Attan said Dr Mahathir remains very popular and the move by the media to restrict his views has 'forced people to read his blog and find out his side of the story'.

The most popular political websites are Malaysia Today run by controversial blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, online newspaper Malaysiakini and followed by chedet.com, bloggers say.

Dr Mahathir launched his blog on May 1.

The blog's moniker is derived from his old pen-name when he was a columnist with Utusan Malaysia newspaper in the 1970s. 'Che Det' is a shortened version of Encik Mahatdet, as he is known in his home state of Kedah.

Dr Mahathir's blog received one million hits just before the end of its first month last month. Under a posting, The Millionaire Club, he wrote: 'It is quite an experience to be a blogger even though I am only a month old.'

He also said that much as he saw the importance of the Internet as prime minister, 'I did not envisage that I would one day be a blogger'.

As of yesterday, he has posted 43 entries in English and Bahasa Malaysia, most of them attacks on Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi and the government.

The blog's biggest hiccup occurred last week when it was locked out by website operator Bloggers.com for being a 'suspected spam blog', which apparently caused some of the earlier postings to be lost.

Commentators on his blog have ranged from hero worshippers to strident critics.

One Razak Rahim wrote: 'You're my idol and my hero. I put your photo at my office and imitate your thinking style. Since then, I got promoted twice and (achieved) success in my life.'

Conversely, an anonymous reader, said: 'Please admit that you were the main cause of destroying the judiciary. Because of you, now I am afraid to go to court, even to claim back something that legally belongs to me because my opponent knows the right people at the judiciary.'