Daim

I used to hold Tun Daim Zainuddin (Malaysia's ex-Finance Minister from 1984-1991) in high regard, especially after reading his biographical book, 'Daim; The Man behind the Enigma' by Cheong Mei Sui & Adibah Amin. I read it with full interest on how the way he managed to turn around the economy in less than 4 years during the time Malaysia suffered its worse economic crisis in 1985, amidst full of critics and controversy surrounding him. One thing that i like about him is that, he is one of the few successful Malay entrepreneur before the Dasar Ekonomi Baru (NEP) era. A time where the Malay had only 2 percent share in the equity of companies. He was also the first Malay to venture into housing and property industry.

His first business in the late 60s was in plastics but it didn't turned out well, and he almost went bankrupt. Later on, he decided to venture into land and property. Taman Maluri in Cheras was his first housing project under his company, Syarikat Maluri Sdn Bhd. And it was a successful project. And as they say, the rest was history. He was already a successful millionaire way before Dr. Mahathir invited him to run for politics. I feel like writing a review of the book, but don't quite have the time for it, so yeah, maybe some other time.

But anyway, i'd like to quote a few excerpts from the book,

In 1991, Daim's contribution was succintly summed up thus: "Despite having much of his tenure clouded in controversy, the outgoing Finance Minister has nonetheless earned a reputation as one of the country's ablest economic architects, having steered Malaysia through recession into four straight years of high growth."

Commenting on the Asian growth rates, visiting Professor of Finance, Dr. J. Colin Dodds from Canada's St. Mary's University said: "These growth rates, of which Malaysia's is probably one of the best, are unparalleled in history. Even in the US, even in the UK, during their so-called Industrial Revolution, didn't achieve growth rates anywhere near these.."

Tun Daim Zainuddin, is one of the many few UMNO leaders that i highly admire and I feel sad reading this piece of news on today's NST frontpage. I don't intend to elaborate further, you can check out jeff ooi's blog about this issue. I hope he would respond to the media soon.

NST: THE METRAMAC CASE: 'They took RM32m'

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