Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times Barry Wain (grave mercy .TXT) 📖

housing, security or even the environment had a point, but they ignored Dr. Mahathir's point, which was something else entirely. As for the cost, Malaysia could afford his grandiose schemes as long as the economy steamed along, and while the country kept pumping oil and gas.

At its peak, the surge of new-found confidence was so pervasive that Chandran Jeshurun, the academic researcher, concluded that Malaysia boleh should be translated as "anything you can do I can do better".[56] Amid signs of hubris, Dr. Mahathir increased the tempo of Negaraku, the national anthem, to give it a more martial beat — in keeping with lofty economic goals, as an official put it. He also had the nation's coat of arms touched up to make its two tigers look more rampant.

Until the economic crisis forced a halt, developers seemed bent on outdoing each other with the expense and expanse of their projects. When the government temporarily suspended the privatization programme in September 1997, proposals totalling about RM90 billion were awaiting approval.[57] It was not just the staggering cost, but the type of venture being contemplated that thrilled or appalled Malaysians, depending on their political and social outlook. Dr. Mahathir had already endorsed Linear City, the world's longest building, a ten-storey, two-kilometre, tunnel-like structure to be built for RM10 billion along and above a river flowing through central Kuala Lumpur. Another plan, costing RM30 billion, involved building a string of artificial islands along the coast of Kedah, on which would be developed a RM2.5 billion airport for Penang and a seaport, as well as industrial, commercial and residential properties. Also proposed was a "mountain highway" to open the rugged interior of peninsular Malaysia to tourism by linking a series of jungled, upland resort areas stretching from Genting Highlands, near Kuala Lumpur, north to Cameron Highlands.

As economic conditions eased, Dr. Mahathir quietly revived some of his mega-projects, a term he detested, which nevertheless had become part of Malaysia's political lexicon due almost entirely to his efforts. In 2000, the government said it was going ahead with a scaled-down version of Bakun dam: The generating capacity was maintained, but the plan to transmit power by underwater cable was scrapped. Syed Mokhtar Albukhary, who had emerged in two years as one of the country's most influential businessmen, took a controlling stake in the again-privatized venture. Construction of a monorail through downtown Kuala Lumpur, part of the original Linear City proposal, also proceeded.

But in traumatized, post-crisis Malaysia, where the landscape was strewn with corporate wreckage and deep resentment over government bail-outs, big was no longer so beautiful. For example, public protests thwarted government plans to build a RM1.5 billion incinerator — yes, the biggest of its kind in the world, capable of burning 1,200 tonnes of rubbish a day — at two locations on the outskirts of the capital. When the popular demand was for good governance, transparency and an end to cronyism, yet more record-setting invoked wry humour if not outright cynicism. Typically, one local analyst noted that the Malaysian Parliament, with 93 of its 219 members appointed as ministers, deputy ministers and parliamentary secretaries, had perhaps the world's largest executive, while Malaysia's 33 ministers gave the country a bigger cabinet than Britain, India or Australia. "Maybe this is what we call Malaysia boleh," he wrote.[58]

From prison, Anwar Ibrahim helped spread the feeling that jingoistic sloganeering had run its course, and that Dr. Mahathir was more concerned with establishing a legacy than tending the national interest. Although it was self-serving for Anwar to discredit Dr. Mahathir, he had a large and loyal following among Malaysians, especially the young, and they resented his dismissal. His eviction from the centre of Dr. Mahathir's inner circle permitted him a certain credibility to describe his long-time mentor's alleged descent into delusional glory:

Driven by a self-induced frenzy to pursue his megalomaniacal fantasies, he became increasingly divorced from the real world. He could not differentiate the wants and needs of the people from his own egotistical desires. In the last few years, he has become increasingly isolated as he got impatient to get things done so that they would serve as monuments to his majestic rule. Surrounded by sycophantic courtiers, he failed to realize that his ideas were getting obsolete and irrelevant. He has delusions of grandeur and cannot but associate his rule with mega-projects and superlatives — the longest bridge, the tallest building, the grandest airport, the most awesome dam...[59]

Abdullah Badawi was aware of the changing mood on the ground well before he moved into Seri Perdana. It was in line with his personal philosophy, which was always restrained. "I'm not into big projects," he told a meeting of senior government officials early in 2003.[60] Abdullah cancelled, postponed or downgraded several of Dr. Mahathir's huge commitments, incurring his unyielding enmity. Although Abdullah accepted an invitation in 2006 to launch the tenth edition of the Malaysia Book of Records, the private-sector bible of the think-big movement, he sounded a different tune. While "it is admirable to achieve the biggest, the tallest and the largest of everything, it may not always be meaningful or beneficial" to Malaysia's becoming a fully developed country, Abdullah said. "Malaysians should focus on quality, world-class achievements which will add value to our society, enrich our culture, strengthen our moral fibre and provide strong role models for young Malaysians." He called for a nation of cemerlang, gemilang dan terbilang — excellence, glory and determination.[61] Officially, Malaysia boleh was history.

Notes

S. Jayasankaran, "The New Way: Think Small", Far Eastern Economic Review, 6 November, 2003, p. 15.

Raphael Pura, "Ekran is Tapped to Construct Malaysian Dam", Asian Wall Street Journal, 31 January 1994.

Mahathir Mohamad, "Views and Thoughts of Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, the Prime Minister of Malaysia", in Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid, ed., Malaysia's Vision 2020: Understanding the Concept, Implications & Challenges, (Petaling Jaya: Pelanduk Publications (M) Sdn. Bhd., 1997), p. 3.

"International Parachute Expedition to the North Pole 1998", http://www.skypole.ru/north98/north98_e.htm (accessed 6 April 2009).

Thor Kah Hoong, "For One Brief Moment...", Malay