Mahathir, Cabinet ministers have luncheon cruise on Putrajaya Lake
PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and members of his Cabinet went on a luncheon cruise on the Putrajaya Lake yesterday, taking in the sights from the 650-hectare manmade expanse of water.
The luncheon cruise, after the weekly meeting of the Cabinet, was organised by Federal Territories Minister Khalid Abdul Samad. Chief Secretary to the Government Datuk Seri Dr Ismail Bakar also joined the cruise.
Dr Mahathir took the opportunity of the cruise to explain to the ministers a little about the history, development and beauty of Putrajaya.
“Putrajaya looks beautiful when you see it from a boat on the lake,” he said.
The administrative capital of Putrajaya was developed during the era of Dr Mahathir as the fourth prime minister of the country.
Dr Mahathir disclosed that the concept of the Putrajaya development was an idea of the late Tan Sri Elyas Omar. Elyas was the third mayor of Kuala Lumpur, from Feb 1, 1983, to Nov 17, 1992.
“This Putrajaya concept is not mine. Elyas wanted a place to develop a government administrative centre where all the buildings are occupied by government offices.
“We proposed to have such a development in Janda Baik, Pahang, but there were some problems and we selected a venue between Kuala Lumpur and the KL International Airport (KLIA),” he said.
Dr Mahathir joked: “If I want to flee, I can get to KLIA. Someone said there is a tunnel from the Prime Minister's residence to KLIA so that I can flee … but I am not going to do that.”
The Prime Minister said foreign dignitaries were impressed with Putrajaya.
“I believe everyone who came here was very impressed. They tell me that they wish to have something like this and some of them have tried to build their own administrative capital,” he said.