Frankly speaking, in Corporate Malaysia nobody knows who is Robert Kuok, because he was never living in Malaysia in recent times and he's quite old already so he belong to previous previous generation.

As for the other companies you mentioned, well, they are investing billions locally as well (YTL big projects, Lion is doing something big, IGB with MV Phase3, Genting is venturing into local real estate). Again they have to go overseas as well to participate in the growth stories of other nations as well. Becoming GLOBAL is the tagline.

Yes Msia is getting saturated and our market is relatively small.

FYI Malaysia has the most developed of these industries you mentioned if you're comparing with Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines. But of course our neighbours are catching up, and I do keep track with all their economic, corporate, infrastructure and real estate developments on a daily basis for me to say this (you can view them in Skyscrapercity forums).

I'm not sure whether you realise alot of things you see today still belongs to Robert Kuok. A simple example is the fast expanding Golden Screen Cinemas.

Again our focus should be growing our Services Sectors like what we are currently doing with these megaprojects - Business Services, Hospitality, Real Estate, etc. Our services sector is just under 50% whereas to be a high income nation it needs to get pass 70%. Thus, we obviously cannot be attracting the same FDIs like some of our neighbours do. We need high-impact investments that offer lucrative returns, not merely asking someone to come here for the sake of enjoying Tax Holidays.

I'm a Chinese DAP supporter and yet I've high hopes for this country simply because I myself is involved in doing something in return and I know what people see in the Mainstream as well as Opposition media out there is not entirely true sometimes. FYI every government has their cronies, the next question, is whether these cronies do their jobs properly, accountably and ethical. This is the biggest concern as many Malaysians have not reached this maturity level.

The fule of thumb: Decisions made by politicians cannot be just socially-correct in the minds of people, it also have to be politically-correct.

I suggest leave this thread out of these issues, and megaproject like this is definitely good for the economy.

Additional info:
- Malaysia looks set to achieve record-breaking FDI this year.
- Greater KL alone will see "Hundreds" of newly-planned Real Estate projects. Few hundred of skyscrapers will be built by the year 2020 despite the softer market lately.
- Your say about white elephant is as good as mine, but in today's world, you have to build first to create demand (just like in other countries like China). Just like AirAsia, they need to advertise cheap fares first to create demand. You'll die if waiting for demand to come to your doorstep. Remember: BUILD-and-then-SELL concept.
- We are lack of 5-star facilities in KL, so megaprojects like this is Good.
You can find me on http://www.patchay.com and 'PropertyTalk & Lifestyle Malaysia @ Facebook' ( http://www.facebook.com/groups/115179435202482 ).