It was during the final prepatory meeting on the MAPEN Report that I received one day a call from Zainol Mahmud, director-general of the Implementation Coordination Unit (ICU) in the Prime Minister’s Department informing me that Dr. Mahathir wanted to see me. I assumed that it was about the MAPEN Report, or the fact that I had submitted to him previously a proposal to set up a Science City in the Ulu Langat area. It turned out to be neither. It was about another letter I sent him regarding an investment opportunity in Langkawi that was brought to my attention by Mark Heng and a scion of the Kuok family, Kuok Hoon Ping. This was about the government’s proposed divestment of the Langkawi Resort Hotel, the first 5-star hotel before the island got its duty-free status. Mahathir immediately put me at ease upon my entering his office, and as he is wont to do, immediately came to the point saying that he could not accede to my proposal to buy over the Langkawi resort, since he had already promised that to a Negri Sembilan royalty and their Japanese partners. There was still 19% he said I could participate in, to which I said I would only be in the minority and could not control it. He suggested to take it anyway, and perhaps later unload it for a higher price. He wanted me to learn the ropes, I guessed, but I declined and said I’d wait for another opportunity.
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