Dr M : I made Robert Kuok a Tycoon ! What Rubbish !

By Ms Li Xiang Lan
I just took a cursory glance through what Mahathir said here, and you may quote that me a woman is offended like "no fury greater than woman being" conned by the outbursts of a man who was once Prime Minister of our Beloved Land, Malaysia. Is he still in possession of his right senses or is now already senile, talking through his "where the sun never shines" ?

Mahathir can say he made Vincent Tan a Billionaire, nobody will dispute or deny that fact, but Robert Kuok, no, no, no not on your mother's grave. He was already the owner of the family business Kuok Transport way back in the 1950s, and a schoolmate of Johor greats, Tun Dr. Ismail, Tun Sardon Jubir, Tun Hussein Onn, Tan Sri Kadir (once Minister of Law) etc., at English College JB. Robert Kuok is brother-in-law of Leslie Cheah (Federal Flour Mills) whose sisters were sweethearts of Tun Dr. Ismail. Those were the days we never had racial discrimination started by none other than Mahathir himself. Robert Kuok never asked for favours from any Prime Minister -from the Tunku up to Tun Hussein Onn though he knew them very well. The Kuoks lived in Jalan Mohd Amin JB; and to this day, the house is still there. Robert Kuok would never listen to Mahathir, the only person in the whole wide world he would consult before embarking on a project was his Mother.

When Mahathir kicked Musa Hitam out (out in the cold, because Musa was never corrupted, so had no money) nobody but Robert Kuok gave Musa a monthly sum to live decently until Musa was able to stabilize himself, simply because they were fellow Johoreans, nothing more.

When Mahathir was Prime Minister, Robert Kuok was already a rich man, but in KL, you would never have dreamed that a multi-millionaire like Robert Kuok driving an old Honda Accord himself.

Let me tell you another story about Robert Kuok. At one time he bought over the old site of the Great World ( an amusement center near River Valley Singapore ) He wanted to develop it and submitted plans to the Singapore Government which imposed very high fees for his Project. He abandoned the Project, and moved all his Singapore operations to Hong Kong and China. On a particular year, Deng Xiao Peng paid a Visit to Singapore and LKY invited Deng to an Official Dinner. Deng had one request to LKY i.e. to invite Robert Kuok to join.

LKY did just that, and Robert Kuok flew-in on the same day to join-in the dinner. Such is the man, Robert Kuok who is respected by the de facto Leader of The People's Republic of China.

Robert Kuok has lost confidence in the land of his birth, sold much of his holdings in Malaysia and found opportunities in other countries - China & Indonesia.

Mahathir can claim honour for making other Chinese like Vincent Tan, Francis Yeoh, Lee Kim Yew, etc including Abdullah Ang (of the water bed fame in jail) rich, but not Robert Kuok who still keeps his Nationality as the Richest Malaysian.

~ Li Xiang Lan