Hoping for better days ahead
Langkawi wants to see Dr M turn island vibrant and robust
LANGKAWI: When Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was prime minister, he liked to drive around the island by himself when he visited.
And if he saw construction taking place, he would stop and walk into the site, stunning the crew there.
“He wanted to know what they were building. If he saw something he didn’t like, he would tell the architect and give suggestions,” said Ayer Hangat assemblyman Juhari Bulat, 61.
He said Dr Mahathir loves Langkawi “with all his heart” and has been coming once a month for the last 20 years.
“If the grass at the roadside was too long, he would tell the local council himself. Why is the grass so long? What have you been doing?” Juhari recalls with a smile.
He said he was relieved Dr Mahathir is now the Langkawi MP.
“I asked him three times in the month before nomination if he could contest here but he only smiled and said nothing.
“We thought he would return to Kubang Pasu.”
Juhari said Langkawi folk felt the loss when Dr Mahathir stopped being prime minister because many events were cancelled.
“You remember Tour de Langkawi? They still call it that but it hasn’t been done here for a long time.”
It was a 10-day international cycling event Dr Mahathir created in 1996. At the time, it was Asia’s richest bicycle race with RM1.1mil in prizes.
Juhari listed several other events that put the archipelago on the world map including the Langkawi International Dialogue.
He said although Langkawi is duty-free, locals felt the effects of the goods and services tax (GST) because supplies must come from the mainland.
“Sellers fill out the necessary Customs forms to deduct the GST for big purchase items like cars or refrigerators when they distribute to Langkawi.
“But for small items, many wholesalers didn’t go through the trouble and so when the GST first came into force, we really felt the sudden price hike on daily necessities,” he said.
Juhari said Langkawi folk can now look forward to a “return of the good times”, but stressed that there will never be an undersea tunnel or bridge to the mainland.
“The idea was brought up many times in the past but Dr Mahathir shot it down again and again. He doesn’t want our island to grow that way.
“Can you imagine what would happen if 40,000 cars drove over during the school holidays?”
Juhari also said he told his leaders that he would decline any state exco post because he wanted to put all his attention to helping Langkawi grow.
“I don’t want to move to Alor Setar. I retired and closed down my contractor company a year ago.
“Four months ago, I joined Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia because I sensed that the party was not strong here.
“I reopened my office and turned it into the Pribumi operations centre.
“I started a membership drive and in two weeks, we went from 1,400 members to 4,000.
“I was still keying in new members data into the computer when the Registrar of Societies declared us illegal.”
Juhari, who has been the permanent chairman of Langkawi Umno division for 15 years, polled 7,550 votes to beat Mohd Rawi Abd Hamid of Barisan who got 6,018 votes on Wednesday.