Dr M upset over flaws in Putrajaya
PUTRAJAYA, April 18, 2007: The man who created the federal administrative capital here is dismayed by the flaws that have emerged in the city.Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said while there appeared to be an absence of desire to complete and maintain Putrajaya, some areas were turning for the worse. Claiming responsibility for some of the recent negative developments in projects that were carried out during his premiership, he pointed out areas that could do with some attention from the authorities.
After his keynote address at the "Forum on Media and National Development" here yesterday, Dr Mahathir said many decorative lamps which were a unique identity of Putrajaya had gone missing.Recently, Putrajaya was in the news for a landslide followed by a leaking water pipe that shut down the Immigration Department for a day, causing hardship to more than 3,000 clients.In addition, many people expressed frustration at the lack of parking space at the government agencies.
Mahathir say Sorry
On Abullah Badawi Mansion
On a claim he had made in a speech last month that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi owned a RM60 million mansion in Perth, Dr Mahathir said he made the statement based on a rumour."You know when you are carried away in a speech like that, you are not too careful."So I said it. I’m sorry I said something that was wrong and I stand corrected. The house belongs to someone else."
On the issue about his earlier accusations that the Prime Minister own a house in Perth, he admitted it was the spur of the moment during the heat of the speech that he said that, based on rumours speculating around.However, he thanked Raja Petra for correcting him and apologized openly about making the mistake that Khairy Jamaluddin himself made few weeks ago explained that his brother in law, Kamaluddin Abdullah is the one actually owns the property, where else two weeks ago Malaysia Today exposed that the house is registered under Patrick Lim’s wife’s name.
On Sepang International Circuit
On another matter, Dr Mahathir said Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone had gone overboard in saying that the Sepang International Circuit was "shabby". However, he said the circuit, which was also his brainchild, needed improvements as it was the greatest advertisement for Malaysia.
Tun Dr. Mahathir also said that the Sepang F1 racetrack is the greatest free annual advertisement for Malaysia which is worth at least RM one billion. It is sad for him to see Malaysia lost their annual Formula One series in the years to come, something successful since 1999
On Anwar Ibrahim Comeback
Dr Mahathir said his former deputy, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, would not make a major impact though he could help Parti Keadilan Rakyat win a few seats in the next general election."But making a comeback and taking over the government — that’s a pipe dream."
On Proton
On Proton, Dr Mahathir said steps that the government had taken for the automotive industry were "killing" the local car maker. These included the National Automotive Policy and the issuance of Approved Permits to car dealers to enable them to sell other brands."What needs to be done (to save Proton) is remove the (current) management and reinstate the previous management that had made Proton do well."
When asked about Proton merger with VW, then and now, Tun Dr. Mahathir explained that when VW went into merger mode with Proton a while ago, Proton was in a better position to bargain because their financial position was very strong and even had a lot of cash. Now the terms are different. His advice was "remove the management!". He could cynically mean the management of another administration, in line with his speech in Johor Bahru on 10 February.
On Iskandar Development Region (IDR)
On the issue of the Johor Menteri Besar announcing that they are interested to remove the Free Access Zone feature of Iskandar Development Region (IDR) but it was a Federal Government’s call, Tun Dr. Mahathir said the Government could explained the whole thing much earlier and quashed with all the uneasiness caused to the people, especially sensitivities against Singaporeans and other nationals through Singapore, freely enter into Johor, seamlessly without any inspection what so ever.
Source:
April 19, 2007
Tun Dr Mahathir on "Media and National Development
http://malaysia-today.net/blog2006/index.php?itemid=3971
April 18 2007, Perdana Leadership Foundation Website
http://www.perdana.org.my/portal/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=953
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