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

Lee Kuan Yew, publicly chastised himself for having rejected the idea in the 1990s, which he called a "stupid decision".[15]

The massive Bakun dam that Dr. Mahathir approved in Sarawak in 1993, after 14 years of studies and delays, incorporated nearly everything about his leadership that supporters admired and detractors despised. To generate 2,400 megawatts of electricity, it was planned to block the upper reaches of the Rejang River deep in Sarawak's interior to create a giant island-studded lake. About 80,000 hectares of tropical forest were to be cleared and 10,000 rural dwellers relocated. At least two 670-kilometre submarine transmission lines, the world's longest, would carry power across the South China Sea to the national grid in peninsular Malaysia.

To tame the Borneo jungle, Dr. Mahathir turned to Ting Pek Khiing, the tycoon who enjoyed close and cordial relations with the premier after establishing his credentials on Langkawi. Ting's flagship company, Ekran Bhd., assumed the lead role in the RM15 billion privatized venture, which was the biggest Malaysia had attempted, the costliest infrastructure undertaking in Southeast Asia and one of the world's largest engineering works. Dr. Mahathir gave the nod to Ekran in early 1994 after Ting and Sarawak's powerful chief minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud, privately negotiated a deal in just a few weeks.[16] There was no competitive bidding. Ekran, which lacked relevant experience, apparently did not even submit a proper proposal to the state government before it got the contract, and Ting produced his environmental impact study almost six months after the award.[17] "It's a project whose time has come," declared Dr. Mahathir.[18]

Alas, not only the timing was off. While Ting bragged about enhancing his reputation for fast work — "maybe we can do this in six or seven years", instead of the ten-year timetable suggested in studies — he encountered obstacles at every stage.[19] Ekran was dogged by green groups, opposition political parties, the financial community and Sarawak residents due to be displaced. They argued that the rock-filled dam, the world's highest, would be environmentally risky and commercially questionable. Ting multiplied the stakes by talking of plans to build a 14,000-hectare industrial park, Asia's largest, in Sarawak at an estimated cost of RM20 billion, to house makers of equipment for the hydroelectric project.

Although the Ekran-led main operating company projected income of RM38.6 billion from its 30-year concession, including a profit of RM1.47 billion in the first full year of power production, the market remained skeptical.[20] After announcing he had secured a crucial agreement to sell 70 per cent of the output to Tenaga Nasional Bhd., the national power company, Ting had to endure the embarrassment of further negotiations that reduced the price.[21] Ekran and its partners clashed. Swiss-Swedish engineering powerhouse Asea Brown Boveri Ltd., chosen by the Malaysian government to head the consortium to build the dam, objected to RM9 billion of contracts being given without tender to four companies controlled by Ting.[22] He sacked ABB. Two influential Malaysian minority shareholders in the operating company resisted Ekran's demand for management fees of more than RM1 billion as the main promoter of the project.[23] After almost three years of bickering, Ting suffered a stroke which, though mild, was extremely bad news for a man who ran his empire almost singlehandedly.

As the Asian economic crisis struck Malaysia, the government in September 1997 decided to suspend work on several big-ticket items, Bakun among them. Because Ting wanted to proceed, the government cancelled Ekran's contract, agreed to pay compensation for preliminary work and took control of what was declared to be a "national" project. State funds were used to finish some of the work, including tunnels to divert the river.

One gigantic project that escaped the freeze was the RM20.1 billion administrative capital known as Putrajaya, along with its associated Multimedia Super Corridor. Located 30 kilometers south of Kuala Lumpur, about half way to the showpiece airport, Putrajaya was designed to be the nation's centre of government. Almost all the federal ministries, courts and agencies would migrate there — though not the Parliament — along with about 76,000 state employees and an anticipated population of 250,000. Reflecting his enthusiasm for Putrajaya, set on 4,581 hectares that once supported rubber and oil palm plantations, Dr. Mahathir made it a federal territory and home to the prime minister's office and official residence. He vowed to be the first to relocate.

Named after Malaysia's first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra, Putrajaya appeared to have been put on the slow track when the government announced general spending cuts with the onset of the crisis. Only the initial stage, begun two years earlier, would be implemented, while the others would be staggered over a "very long period", the government said.[24] But out of public view, an army of construction workers toiled at a frenetic pace on that RM5 billion first phase. Although extensive, the work avoided scrutiny because it was financed largely by the internal resources of state-owned oil and gas company Petronas, the city's main developer, and because details were deliberately withheld from the media.[25]

The opposition Parti Islam Se-Malaysia created a sensation in late 1998 by publishing a rare photo of the prime minister's partially completed residence, Seri Perdana, on the front page of its newspaper. It labelled the sprawling complex "Mahathir's mahligai", an otherworldly, or celestial, palace. Hours before he was arrested in 1998, sacked deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim fanned gossip about lavish spending on the palatial abode. He told an international television audience that Dr. Mahathir wanted "to live in a world of fantasy", and that the house would cost taxpayers RM200 million, not RM17 million as Parliament had been informed.[26] From his cell in Sungai Buloh jail, Anwar later wrote that he knew how the official figure had been manipulated. "The building will be the biggest and most sophisticated palace in the country," he said. "It is designed personally by Dr. Mahathir. Everything about it is French."[27]

Putrajaya's promoters opened the city to reporters for the first time in 1999, just before Dr. Mahathir and his