Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times by Barry Wain (fantasy novels to read .TXT) 📕

resort facilities on the island of Langkawi in time for Malaysia's first international air show in 1991.[2] Dr. Mahathir later boasted that "we" designed, built and equipped a 170-room, five-star hotel on Langkawi in four months, while deciding half way through to make up for a projected shortfall in accommodation by adding a 300-room, three-star hotel; it was finished in 53 days. Both were records and deserved a place in Guinness, he declared.[3]

At its best, the Malaysia boleh fervour engendered patriotism and encouraged Malays, Chinese, Indians and other minorities to forget their ethnic differences and take pride in being Malaysian. While it remained a noble cause for some, however, it degenerated into farce for others. As political opponents attacked Dr. Mahathir's "mega-projects" for their extravagance, his Malaysia set the unofficial world record for setting records, many of them banal, bizarre or plain wacky. They included the largest gathering of old people at a circus, the most number of heads shampooed in one day at a shopping mall and the highest backward climb up a staircase.

In conjunction with a World Youth Games in Moscow organized by the International Olympic Committee in 1998, Malaysia dispatched a 16-member team to participate in a mass jump on the North Pole.[4] The think-big wrinkle: With the help of the Russian military, the Malaysians floated a Proton Wira down to the icy waste, prompting some of their countrymen to "mock the inanity" of seeking to have their national car become the first Asian auto to arrive in the Arctic by parachute.[5]

Five Malaysian skydivers took aim at the South Pole in a trumpeted "Millennium Jump" at the turn of the century, only to miss their target by a thousand kilometres or so. They landed at Patriot Hills in the Chilean-claimed western Antarctic, disappointing Malaysia's youth and sports ministry, which had advanced the organizers RM780,000 to help make the polar bid. Stoicly, Ong Tee Kiat, a deputy minister, pointed out that a jump had occurred and the team "should be praised for accomplishing the feat under difficult circumstances".[6]

Detractors derided "Bolehland" and a local satirical troupe, Instant Café Theatre, staged a spoof "Bolehwood" awards ceremony.[7] In another production, Instant Café offered a politician vying for the post of "deputy minister of misinformation" declaiming, "Yes, we know that we do not have a very good human rights record. That is why we are trying to have all the other records...".[8]

Even when he stuck to basic infrastructure, Dr. Mahathir courted controversy with the sheer dimensions and sweep of his plans. "I think very far ahead, not ten years, twenty years, [but] one hundred years", he said.[9] The 966-kilometre north-south highway system, which took 13 years to complete, cut travel time from one end of peninsular Malaysia to the other by two-thirds. Begun by the government, the project became contentious when a company controlled by Dr. Mahathir's UMNO was given a RM3.42 billion contract to complete the network, which was then privatized under a consortium led by the same company, with the right to operate it and collect tolls.

If anyone had any doubts, the replacement Kuala Lumpur International Airport provided an insight into the extent of Dr. Mahathir's ambitions. While some argued that the existing Subang airport could be expanded, he chose a remote site 70 kilometres from the capital, on which Kisho Kurokawa, the noted Japanese architect, designed an airport to handle eventually up to 100 million passengers a year. An entire section of rain forest was transplanted from the jungle, roots and all, to decorate the satellite building at which aircraft docked. At 130 metres, the control tower was then the world's tallest. The RM9 billion airport signalled that Malaysia aspired to compete with Singapore, Bangkok and Hong Kong as a regional transportation and logistics hub.

When it came to the Penang bridge, Dr. Mahathir solidified his reputation by making it a reality. Others had talked about it, studied the feasibility and promised to do something for a decade or more, especially at election time. Less than a week after becoming premier, Dr. Mahathir disclosed that a "non-Caucasian" company — South Korean, it transpired — had been chosen to do the bulk of the work.[10] Costing RM740 million, the toll bridge was the final link in an east-west highway network, and at 13.5 kilometres — 8.4 kilometres of it over water — it was the third-longest bridge in the world.[11] Driving a Proton Saga, the new national car, over the Penang bridge to celebrate its completion in 1985, Dr. Mahathir "brought together two potent symbols of modernity, Malaysian-style".[12]

With an audacious initiative to include Malaysia in Formula One, the world's most expensive sport, Dr. Mahathir successfully grabbed international attention. His government sponsored the construction of a RM270 million racetrack, which was sited at Sepang near the new airport. Dr. Mahathir envisioned a glamorous grand prix, with a worldwide television audience of tens of millions and a loyal following among travelling spectators, as a magnetic tourist attraction. In addition, he saw it as a platform for the promotion of Malaysia's event-management industry and a showcase for the Proton.[13]

A car-racing fan, Dr. Mahathir flew to Europe to lobby Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Administration personally to ensure that the prestigious race was held in Malaysia by 1999. Ecclestone said Dr. Mahathir's enthusiasm "more than convinced" the organizers.[14] The Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix took its place in the Formula One series, along with traditional venues in Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the United States and Monaco.

Just how far Dr. Mahathir was ahead of the game became clear much later. Only Australia and Japan in the Asian region were on the limited-race circuit when he seized the opportunity. China subsequently signed up Shanghai, Singapore secured the first night race in 2008 and India reached agreement to join in 2010, leaving Russia and others clamouring to get in. With aspirations to be a global city in the twenty-first century, Singapore regretted that it did not seek admission to the exclusive Formula One club much earlier. The republic's founding father,