Word: mokhtar
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...With the backing of the government, big dreams are possible. But what one former Cabinet minister calls the "fatal embrace of Mahathir Mohamad" also carries burdens. "What they don't realize," says another longtime Mahathir watcher, speaking of men like Mokhtar, Halim and Tajudin, "is that the PM doesn't care about them individually. He only cares about results, and if he thinks they can get things done, he'll keep loading them down with projects until they sink...
...Indeed, the port is evidence Mokhtar can compete with the world's best and win. In 2001, PTP lured Maersk?the world's largest shipping line?away from the super-efficient Port Authority of Singapore. And to show it wasn't a one-hit wonder, PTP took away another big prize, the Taiwan carrier Evergreen, earlier this year. "It isn't just about low cost," Sidek says. "You have to be up to global standards and have low cost as well. If a ship comes in and there's no pilot or the cranes break down, I'm finished. There...
...cultivating political connections for business purposes is standard procedure in many countries. But in Malaysia, the stakes are especially high: you can be catapulted from the ranks of the merely wealthy into the rarefied status of billionairedom in part by earning the confidence of the right people. The companies Mokhtar controls have a stake in almost every sector of the economy: from the publicly listed Malakoff, now Malaysia's biggest private sector producer of electrical power, to Pernas, which owns businesses ranging from Malaysia's largest security company to the Pan Pacific chain of hotels. Analysts say Mokhtar is consolidating...
...Five years ago, Mokhtar wasn't a familiar face in Kuala Lumpur's corridors of power. According to his associates, that was largely due to his strained ties with then Finance Minister and longtime Mahathir confidant Daim. Whatever the reason, Mokhtar found several key ventures at the state level mysteriously blocked. Reports began to filter back that his name was being blackened at the highest levels of government. Finally, Mokhtar asked for an audience with the Prime Minister. For the first 20 minutes, Mahathir sat stony-faced, his arms crossed. But, Mokhtar associates say, the PM began to thaw...
...five years that have since passed, Mokhtar's star has soared, his rise accelerating noticeably since the departure of Daim last June after a falling out with the Prime Minister. Associates say Mokhtar's ambitions extend to nothing less than turning his adopted hometown of Johor Bahru into a second Singapore by spending millions of dollars upgrading the roads and water supply, developing every inch of the 2,000 acres on which the port sits?the goal is to double or treble current capacity?and transforming the town's airport into a major air-cargo hub. Mahathir...