A Doctor in The House: A Memoir of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (100 page)

Since this was to be a very important part of the city, I involved myself quite closely in the planning. Originally, it did not cross our minds to build two towers, much less make them the tallest ones in the world. Ananda suggested we hold an international competition for the design of the development, and entries came in from Japan, the US and Britain. Most were for fairly low buildings, but the one we were especially drawn to featured two very tall towers, surrounded by lesser towers, a shopping complex and a garden. The design came from César Pelli, a US-based Argentinean architect who specialised in high-rise buildings. In his striking proposal, the twin towers were linked by a bridge at a very high level. Together, they would form a great arch that might suggest a gateway not just to Kuala Lumpur but to Malaysia’s proud, modern future.

Like most skyscrapers seen in the US, his towers were initially based on a square design. We wanted them to have an identifiably Malaysian shape and to incorporate some Islamic features. There was precedent for our choice; built in the 1980s, the Dayabumi building
[3]
 in Kuala Lumpur has Arabesque grilles which distinguish it stylistically. We also did not like the then-fashionable idea of glass towers, as they were neither beautiful nor suited to our climate. Pelli himself was not familiar with Islamic design, so I suggested that the building’s base should have the shape of an eight-pointed star and that, as the building rose higher, it should taper off and become smaller. The Islamic motif here was evident—while the Muslim star usually has five points, the eight-pointed star is a common Islamic architectural pattern, notably in the design for Moroccan fountains and gardens. In my travels I had noticed that much of Moroccan architecture included this eight-pointed star. I had previously adopted this same motif in designs I had proposed for the fountain for my house and for two more at the National Mosque. I suggested that the proposed building should also stand and rise from a foundation consisting of two overlapping squares, placed at right angles to each other. Such a building would evoke and be a kindred structure to many of the great historic buildings of the classical Islamic world with their elegant architecture.
 

Pelli was quite taken with the idea and enthusiastically used it to redesign the whole building, creating something very beautiful in the process. He told us that having too many corners meant losing a lot of space, so he connected the star pattern with curved parts that softened the shape without losing the eight points. He then added what he called a “bustle” in front of the two towers, going up to 40 floors. Joined to the main towers, this device would provide more floor space yet would be serviced by the main tower lifts. Tall buildings need many lifts and the space they take up reduces the rentable floor area. The bustles would provide increased space without requiring additional lifts. To increase lift capacity without increasing the space required, double-decker lifts were planned. They were the first double-decker lifts in the world and they enabled us to reduce space requirements. Pelli decided to place the connecting bridge, which converts the towers into an elevated archway, between levels 41 and 42 of the 88-storey building. To stand on it is like floating in mid-air—there is nothing below, only empty space. Some people find crossing the bridge hair-raising; others, exhilarating.

The towers would be the tallest buildings in Malaysia, probably in all of Southeast Asia. They would become a Malaysian landmark, proof of what we had achieved, and a symbol of what we hoped to accomplish in the future. I casually mentioned to PETRONAS Chairman Tan Sri Azizan Zainul Abidin that since our buildings were only 10 stories shorter than the Sears Tower in Chicago in the US, why not make them taller? Without my knowledge, he then instructed Pelli to add a few more floors and top the building with spires, which would be included in the towers’ overall height. The spires increased the height of the Towers to 450 metres, making them the tallest buildings in the world at that time. There are not, in fact, all that many floors in the towers because two of the floors are for machinery, but the height of each floor is greater than in other famous buildings. Extra space was provided to install water pipes and electrical conduits under the floor and above the ceiling. I think Pelli was as elated as Azizan when they told me the buildings would be the tallest in the world.

We had the late Brazilian landscape artist Roberto Burle Marx plan the garden. The landscaping plans, which included a 1.3km jogging track, fountains, a children’s pool, ornamental water features and a mosque, were both attractive and intelligent, and the park would enhance both the city’s beauty and the value of the buildings. Today, the shopping centre, Suria KLCC, is very popular, especially with tourists. It continues to expand and remains a formidable competitor to the many other new shopping complexes that have risen all over town. Adjacent to Suria KLCC is the six-star Mandarin Oriental hotel, which overlooks the park. Overseas visitors cannot believe the comparatively low price of the rooms at this location with a view of the park.

PETRONAS set a precedent by awarding the building contract to two different companies from two different countries—Samsung Engineering & Construction from Korea and Hazama Corporation from Japan—to create competition and reduce costs. It would have cost three times as much to build the towers in the US or elsewhere, but we were able to keep costs down because we were not in an earthquake zone and had no volcanoes or strong winds to contend with. When there is an earthquake in Sumatra, we only experience minor tremors. Furthermore, Kuala Lumpur is built on firm ground, mostly limestone, unlike many Southeast Asian cities that have been built on swampy land where piling costs are prohibitive.

Even so, construction work was not completely free from problems; because of the towers’ great height, we had to dig deep to lay the foundations and the engineers discovered that the site was astride an underground limestone cliff. This meant having to use piles of unequal length, which might provide uneven support. In the end, we had to shift the site slightly so that the foundations would stand on solid, levelled limestone.

Designing and constructing tall buildings is very complex, as many miles of water pipes and electrical wires need to be installed and hidden from sight. There are also tens of thousands of switches, innumerable toilets, air conduits and more. The Korean and Japanese contractors, however, did a marvellous job and managed to complete one floor every four days. Two Americans were engaged to oversee the work and they also did a great job, but in a documentary about the construction, CNN’s Discovery Channel gave the impression that they had built the towers all by themselves. There was no mention of the Koreans, the Japanese and the thousands of other Asian engineers and workers who actually built the podium and towers and installed all the electrical and piping work. CNN later revised their documentary to acknowledge that many others were involved, including numerous Malaysians.

There were a few tense moments during the construction process. One was the discovery that one of the towers was tilting slightly, which I feared might jeopardise the whole project. The ever resourceful engineers, however, were able to correct it. They also had to manage the tricky problem of the skybridge, which they had initially thought could be installed quickly and without any difficulty. The bridge, a solid double-deck steel structure enclosed in glass, was fabricated completely in Korea. It had to be shipped to Malaysia and then lifted by crane and positioned between the two towers. Four slanting steel piers anchored it on the towers at level 41 and supported the middle part of the bridge. When the bridge was finally manoeuvred into place, it fitted snugly into the space prepared for it—truly a magnificent piece of engineering.

Apart from that, construction proceeded smoothly. The Japanese and Korean contractors were in a race to finish their half of the job but in the end it was the Koreans who finished one month earlier, even though they had started a month later. They did their fabrication on the site, while the Japanese had their fabrication yards in several places. The towers also had a “raft foundation”, a technique that entailed putting in all the piles and then joining their heads with a great slab of cement. As the cement hardened it gave off tremendous heat, so ice had to be used to cool it. To ensure the slab would not harden at different times, the cement had to be poured in continuously over 24 hours. The building now stands on that huge block of cement, which joins all the heads of the piles together. They then had to build huge columns, each more than two metres in diameter at the base, to support the two towers. As the columns rose they had to taper, becoming ever smaller, and they also had to lean inwards slightly. How they made their calculations I do not know, but it was done with great precision. Not only the architects, who devised these innovative ideas, but also the engineers and workers who made them a reality, deserve to be congratulated.

I visited the site often, at least once every fortnight and sometimes even once a week. On weekends I usually drove myself out in a four-wheel drive vehicle and often dropped in to see the progress of the construction. Once, while construction work was still on, I went up in the lifts used by the workers. Because the tower tapered up, I had to change lifts three times, walking on steel walkways which did not look very safe. From the top I had a fantastic view of Kuala Lumpur and its surroundings.

The Malaysians who supervised the project were very good, as were the interior designers. Many Malay women engineers and architects were among the people who briefed me on the progress and on what they proposed to do inside: the décor, the rooms, everything. At times I was very disappointed when some of the Malays who had won the contracts were not there when I visited. Perhaps they thought that once they had the contract, they could hand it over to their subcontractors and overseers and not have to be there themselves. But if the job is yours, so is the responsibility of overseeing the work. I was also frustrated that there were so many foreign workers while Malaysian workers, especially Malays, just refused to do the work. They gave the excuse that the buildings were too high. Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Indonesians were willing to work and were paid quite well. Malaysians should have also welcomed the opportunity to take part in building the tallest buildings in the world, especially in their own country.

One tower initially belonged to Ananda and the other to PETRONAS, but eventually Ananda sold his tower to PETRONAS. Renting out the vast space in the two towers took time, mainly because PETRONAS was choosy about its tenants. The company felt that as a prestige location, the towers could not be an address just for anyone. PETRONAS did not want to devalue the towers’ prestige, so tenants had to be people and companies of some standing. Sometimes however, the managers may have been too selective and unduly fussy. Few Malays could afford to rent space in the shopping complex, but when a Malaysian producer of high-quality crocodile skin goods was to be evicted, I was annoyed. If we continued to look down on our own quality products, we would never develop high-profile, Malaysian-branded goods.

After the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US, we, like all proprietors and managers of tall buildings, had new concerns. We had not provoked anyone to warrant that kind of attack but anything, of course, was possible. The design of the Twin Towers and the use of steel in their construction made them very strong. I am told that in a strong wind or when there are tremors, the towers may sway, although I myself have never felt the buildings move. When there was an earthquake in Sumatra one night, all it did was to break some window panes in the towers.

As soon as the towers were completed, PETRONAS decided to provide me with an office on one of the top floors. It is the highest office in Malaysia, probably in Southeast Asia, and has its own lounge and boardroom. But I did not occupy it until I retired and needed an office in town. From my window, I enjoy a spectacular view of the whole of Kuala Lumpur and its surroundings, and on clear days I can even see Genting Highlands in the east and the coast to the west.

During the planning process, PETRONAS had also decided to include a Petrosains (petroleum science) Centre and a Philharmonic Hall, which would have a ceiling that could be lowered slightly to get the best acoustic effects. The Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra is now very popular, with people coming from overseas to attend its performances. I did not realise at the time, however, that our orchestra would have so many European musicians. In time, I hope there will be more Malaysians in the orchestra, signalling a level of cultural advancement that I had always wanted for Malaysia.

Needless to say, many people complained about the money spent and asked why we needed the towers. In fact, they only cost about RM3 billion and would have cost three times as much in most other countries. People must remember that property appreciates in value over time, unlike cars and other engineering products that become outdated and depreciate in value. If we ever wanted to, we could sell the towers and make a handsome profit. Ultimately, I believe in moving money to make more money, and not letting it lie idle. PETRONAS in this case had the money. When it built the towers it stimulated the economy, with everyone from subcontractors to labourers and the 
nasi lemak
-sellers
[4]
 making money from the project. Ultimately, the Government would collect taxes from all these business activities.
 

Foreigners liked to point out that although we had built these towers, we still had a lot of squatter areas in the city. In a Hollywood film called 
Entrapment, 
starring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones, they superimposed footage of a slum area in Malacca onto scenes of the towers, making it look as if they had been built while our people remained poor. When I was in New York I asked our TV people to film footage of a man in rags sleeping on a bench in the park as well as footage of the city’s slums. But Malaysians still feel it is wrong to show anything unflattering about the 
Orang Putih
. This inferiority complex is latent in the psyche of the Malays, perhaps even of Malaysians generally. When we built the towers, we were not unaware of poverty in Malaysia, but we could not wait until poverty was totally eradicated before we spent money on other things that would make a huge contribution to the country’s economy. At the towers’ opening ceremony, I said that when people are short, they need a soapbox in order to be seen and heard. We, I said, were little known and figuratively we were short, not players of tall stature in the international game. The towers were Malaysia’s soapbox, but they have since also become the country’s landmark, a part of our internationally-recognised and admired brand image. In any case, through Government efforts poverty in Malaysia has been reduced to less than five per cent.