The Frank Sinatra hit My Way has long been associated with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, mostly because the 22 years when he was in charge the first time around was typified by a determination to get things done "his way" to the point of being utterly inflexible.

Yet it was never lonely at the top for the man who ruled supreme from 1981 to 2003 at the head of the once dominant Umno-led coalition, which had a two-thirds super-majority in Parliament.