My penniless thoughts - Mahathir.

I think this guy is a sensation. I am fascinated over him. Sure he's no Brad Pitt or Hugh Jackman or Megan Fox or Angelina Jolie or my director whose bodies and/or looks are fascinating work of art from God and I certainly don't mean to sound too much of a typical gemini but this guy's brain is just sensationally fascinating. The Ultimate work of art from God.

Of all the things I am most grateful is how he handled the country's economy during the 1997 Asia financial crisis. How he managed to exclude Malaysia from the IMF trap. Or else, my dear friends, we might highly likely to have become like Indonesia. A sum of money is loaned to us but the interest rate is more than we can repay, bringing our value of money down. Imagine us carrying thousands and millions of ringgits to a grocery store. Imagine our stagnant if not deteriorated economy. Who would want to invest in Esprit or MNG Outlets? Queensbay mall? Gurney plaza (let alone its expension now)? Pavillion? Borders Books (largest Borders Bookstore in the world in Times Square)? Life would be less interesting, true, but that is the least of all the problems. Crime rates would tragically worsened. and corruption too. Frustrated people. Radical religious groups would make matters worse. Forget about showing off furthering your studies or on the job training in the US or Europe we might even be the PATI*[Pendatang Asing Tanpa Izin] in the Phillippines or Singapore. Damn.

Instead of all that, we have managed to bring in a lot of outside investors (as in electronic giants Intel, Motorola, HP, Agilent, etc) into Malaysia by potraying our country's stability in a tangible manner as in hosting the successful Commonwealth Games '98. (Bear in mind that the impression that we are giving to the world is based on, only stabilize countries, in term of economy and political can host such big event, and stabilize countries mean stabilized economy.) Thus, providing more job opportunities. Heck, we should be thankful to be able to get hold of a decent job with our second class University qualification. Changing fancy Nokias, Sony Ericssons,Motorolas or even Perodua models ever so often. Postgrads in India are taxi drivers and flipping burgers there for crying out loud !

Have you been to Putrajaya? Now that is a work of art that represents this great guy's brain. To me, Putrajaya is the icing or pepper or cili padi in a dish, which adds more ummph! to all the good things we have around us.

In my humble limited knowledge, this guy played an important role in creating Bank Islam, International Islamic University Malaysia, Tabung Haji among other things, just to name a few.

It has been said that, "Even in 100 years, or 1000 years, it is difficult to find another like him". And I am proud to say that I am living my youth from the result of his era, learn on his achievements and contributions while he is still alive.