Making It Big by Binod K Chaudhary

Author:Binod K Chaudhary [Chaudhary, Binod K]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789385890994
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2016-05-01T22:00:00+00:00

Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad

I have already talked about the grand success of the FNCCI-organized economic summit that was attended by some of the great leaders of Asia, such as Hussain Muhammad Ershad, Farooq Leghari and Anand Panyarachun. I had always been fascinated by the rise of the Asian Tigers under leaders like Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad of Malaysia and Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore. I came up with the idea of inviting Mahathir Mohamad to help us prepare and carry out substantial homework on governance and administration for Nepal’s transformation. I preferred Mahathir because it was under his leadership that a country, which was in no better shape than Nepal, actually metamorphosed into a leading regional economy. Though some criticize him, calling him a dictator, nobody disputes that Dr Mahathir was the person who not only transformed Malaysia economically but, in the process, also played a pivotal role in shaping the ASEAN economic block.

It was not difficult for me to bring Mahathir to Nepal. His son is a friend of Iku Mohamed, our close family friend Yusuf Mohamad’s son. Iku is a leading animator in Japan, and is also highly sought after in Hollywood. It was not that I was unacquainted with Mahathir, having met him several times in the past. But I chose to approach him through Iku.

‘I need a favour from you,’ I told Iku. ‘You have to help me get in touch with Dr Mahathir Mohamad.’

‘No problem,’ he replied. ‘We’ll go to Malaysia and meet him together.’

Iku himself was planning to write a book on Mahathir in Japanese.

He fixed up an appointment for me with Mahathir, and I immediately flew to Malaysia for the meeting. Mahathir had recently stepped down as prime minister and was recuperating from a surgery. We had a long discussion on a range of issues. I was impressed with his knowledge of Nepal, and with his understanding of the legacy of the Gurkhas scattered all across South Asia and South East Asia. He explained how he helped integrate Nepalis into Malaysia, given that we had played such an important role in shaping the country. He and his spouse had never been to Nepal and were both keen to visit.

By the end of that first meeting, Mahathir had agreed, in principle, to visit Nepal. ‘Please provide me with information on the socio-economic issues as well as the political situation in Nepal, and I’ll try to come up with some meaningful observations,’ he said.

He also asked Iku to arrange meetings for me with the top business and industrial leaders in Malaysia. This shows Mahathir’s leadership skill. Though he was no longer the prime minister of Malaysia, he was very eager to leverage every opportunity that came his way to the benefit of his country. Iku took me to Ananda Krishnan, a Sri Lankan raised in Malaysia, who went on to become one of the biggest businessmen in that country and one of the richest men in the world. Mahathir is very close to Ananda Krishnan

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.