Mahathirism's Pet Projects

This will be the Part II of Mahathirism in The Eyes of a 23 year old. I will emphasize on what Mahathirism is in terms of education, development and foreign relations.

Mahathirism : Malaysia Progressed As A United Nation

Pet Projects (Chronologically)

Proton (1981)
PLUS (1988 - 1994)
KLIA (1990)
Petronas Twin Towers (1992)
Putrajaya (1995-2001)
KL Tower (1995)
MEASAT (M1 - 1996 , M3 - 2006)
Astro (1996 - now)
Multimedia Super Corridor (1996)
Sepang International Circuit (1998)
XVI Commonwealth Games 98 Kuala Lumpur (1998)
STAR LRT Malaysia (1998)
Putra LRT Malaysia (1999)
Malaysian F1 Grand Prix (1999-now)
Port Tanjung Pelepas (1999)
KL Monorail Malaysia (2003)

These are the heavily criticised Pet Projects of Tun Dr Mahathir by a segment of the people, especially the Opposition parties.

If we rationally evaluate these, Proton was initially ridiculed and Dr Mahathir was belittled when he said Malaysians will produce their own cars.

In the late 1980s, when the first Proton Saga was rolled out, Malaysians and the world was silenced and we became proud of our national carmaker till today.

Proton has gone so far ahead and we now own the famous British sports carmaker Lotus.

Under Tun Dr Mahathir's leadership and guidance, Malaysian companies gained another star rating when they built

1. KLIA - one of the world's best airport
2. Petronas Twin Towers - former World Tallest Building, currently, World Tallest Twin Towers

In 1996 till today, the MEASAT satelites enable us to watch global satelite channels like BBC, CNN, ESPN, and the famous TVB channels among the Chinese community.

Malaysians then played host to a string of international sports such as SUKOM 98, Malaysian F1 Grand Prix, SEA Games and various world championship events.

Although imperfections exist in planning of transportation links in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, nevertheless, the introduction of KTM, STAR & PUTRA LRT as well as KL Monorail provided an improvement in standard of living.

Malaysians today enjoy the connectivity among major spots in Kuala Lumpur (although limited).

It was also under the Mahathirism guidance that brought Malaysian technology to a higher level.

If we recall, companies like Intel, AMD & Microsoft came to Malaysia under the Industrialization policies, Education policies and of course the Multimedia Super Corridor plan.

These mega multinational firms brought in not only their expertise but also invested heavily on education of the locals in skills and knowledge of their technological field.

Malaysians began to move forward with the introduction of MSC Malaysia in the arena.

Among the improvement which Mahathirism brought through MSC Malaysia was

1. Project Monitoring System (SPP II)
2. Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS)
3. Generic Office Environment (GOE)
4. Electronic Procurement (EP)
5. Electronic Services (E-Services)
6. Electronic Labour Exchange (ELX)
7. E-Syariah

These might seem far from our understanding (for some of us) because the systems affect only the Government agencies and various private companies.

However, we need not look so far.

If we take a look at our Identity Cards which can store information like Driving license, Health information, Passport Info & Identity, we can see that is one of the benefits of Mahathirism.

Private sectors such as Body Shop made full use of the My Kad chip and introduced the My Kad - Body Shop membership system.

Yes, that is Mahathirism.

Surprisingly, the heavily criticised and ridiculed MSC also dished out a heavy usage application among all Malaysians.

The development of Bankcard began in 2000 under MSC Malaysia with the Malaysian Electronic Payment System (MEPS) Sdn Bhd.

The chip based bankcard, which was co-designed with domestic financial institutions, is now in the wallets of everyone and used by us all.

Ladies and gentlemen, these are Mahathirism's Pet Projects which have been ridiculed irrationally but appreciated deep down in our hearts.

* The final blog entry of Mahathirism will come soon

(Credits to Businessweek, Destination 360, MEPS, TheStar, TheNutGraph and Zcars for the photos)