KLIA market is actually shrinking, not expanding as he had hoped before. Many factors contributed to this but we will not bore readers with the nitty gritty of aviation industry. Suffice to say that it was unwise to consider challenging Changi and Bangkok's position as the regional hubs. After all, there are already too many world-class airports which serve as hubs in this region anyway including the state of the art Chek Lap Kok Airport in Hong Kong. If the trend continues, the country is going to suffer a huge loss on its investment.
Prudence dictates that only necessary investments are made.
This is where some of us disagree with Mahathir and his style of managing the economy. Economy should be built upon a sound foundation, mobilised by an entrepreneurial society and backed by a people's oriented government. This is a factor which Mahathir chose to overlook. In the end, Mahathir's pet projects such as KLIA and Formula One circuit in Sepang become white elephants - so notoriously remembered by the people for the amount of public funds it sucked to feed an old man's ego. Hakcipta terpelihara Ma.