Mahathir 'committed to group'

By Yoke Har Lee

Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad may be seen as a party-pooper for not attending the Apec summit but he remains committed to the group, says Malaysian businessman Tan Sri Francis Yeoh.

"It will be unfair to say the Prime Minister is losing interest or commitment to Apec. He is not a man interested in talks. He likes tangibles, projects he can understand, things he can see. He wants deliverables," said the chief of infrastructure company YTL.

Dr Mahathir said earlier this month that the Apec process was a toothless talkfest.

He was seen as draconian in imposing capital controls to hit speculators in the Asian economic crisis.

"Many people tried to stop, to advise him against it. But he went along with his decision. He had thought it through," Tan Sri Yeoh said.

"He knew if we went down the IMF [International Monetary Fund] route, interest rates would skyrocket, businesses would be threatened and when you do that, the social fabric starts to fall apart. This is precisely what happened in Indonesia ... a social implosion.

"For him to change his mind [about free capital flows], it was very difficult for Malaysians to understand. Therefore he was totally alone. We were brought up by him to believe in liberalisation. He was active and a believer in international trade."

Tan Sri Yeoh said he favoured a peg for the Malaysian ringgit but it had to be actively managed.