Why Mahathir Mohamad can't keep out of Malaysian politics

Mahathir Mohamad's stepping down as Malaysia's prime minister on October 31, 2003, represented much more than a changing of the guard. Departing was a man who had led the country for 22 years, more than half of its modern history at the time, and whose identity was stamped on Malaysia's institutions, its architecture, its media and its throttled political debate. When he dutifully handed over a file to his successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi - it was, with a symbolism that would become clear in later years, completely empty - and walked down the steps of the ministerial building to say goodbye, a flawed but vital part of the nation went with him.

But what about November 1? What would happen the day after he relinquished two decades of absolute power? And the next day, and the next?

"It was very unsettling, I would say," says Mahathir, with a sad smile. "Because you move away from a position of power to being just an ordinary person. I thought I would … relax, write my memoirs, things like that."

He pauses. "It was a little bit depressing."

More than a decade after having relinquished power, Mahathir is a strong-looking 89-year-old, dressed in a wide-collared khaki shirt. He is sitting at a desk in a vast top-floor office that takes a good 20 paces to cross, past a model Formula One car, a classic old rifle and a host of furniture.

This office, at the Albukhary Foundation, next door to the angular jags of the National Mosque of Malaysia, is one of four he maintains: he has another in the Petronas Towers (whose creation he was responsible for), and a third in the offices of the Perdana Leadership Foundation (whose creation he was responsible for), which are in the federal capital of Putrajaya (whose creation he was responsible for). It is difficult to avoid Mahathir-era landmarks in Kuala Lumpur.