Soros to visit Malaysia, may meet Mahathir
Malaysiakini.com
Dec 11, 2006
Premesh Chandran

exclusive World renowned financial investor and philanthropist George Soros will be making his first visit to Malaysia this week and has hinted that he may meet his nemesis, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“We have had an exchange of letters and a personal meeting is planned if his health permits,” Soros told malaysiakini in an exclusive email interview, referring to Mahathir's heart attack last month.

Soros, 76, is scheduled to address Malaysia’s London School of Economics Alumni Society on Friday in Kuala Lumpur.

“The Malaysian LSE Alumni society had invited me in the past. Since I am an LSE alumnus and planned to travel to the region, I decided to take them up on their offer,” he said.

This will be Soros’ first visit to Malaysia despite having traveled to Southeast Asia a number of times before.

While in Malaysia, Soros plans to meet a broad range of people including business, government and civil society leaders.

However, all eyes will be on a potential meeting with his nemesis, Mahathir.

Mahathir is presently recuperating from a mild heart attack which he suffered on Nov 9.

The meeting, should it happen, will mark a dramatic about-turn in their testy relationship.

Nearly a decade ago, Mahathir had pinned the blame for the Asian financial crisis on currency speculators, naming in particular Soros, who is Jewish.

He reportedly called Soros a “moron” out to wreck Asian economies by selling their currencies, while the billionaire financier hit back by accusing Mahathir of being a “menace to his country”.

Change of heart

But there has been a change of heart since the heated and public name-calling between the two.

In an interview with malaysiakini earlier this year, Soros has indicated that he would be happy to meet Mahathir. 

“I think Mahathir has made a great contribution to Malaysia’s material development but like all great men, he has made some great mistakes. There are many areas where we think alike, and I’ll be happy to engage in a dialogue with him.”

Soros made his name in 1992 by speculating that the Bank of England would not be able to sustain the pound’s international value.

When the central bank finally allowed the pound to float, Soros walked away with over a billion pounds. It is believed that the Malaysian central bank, Bank Negara, had bet against Soros and lost billions.

Soros has since put much of his wealth to build ‘open societies’, a concept he picked up from Karl Popper - his tutor while at the London School of Economics.

Having personally experienced Hitler’s seizure of Hungary and the subsequent deportation of the country's Jews to extermination camps followed by post-war communist rule, Soros has invested in foundations that promote the creation of open and democratic societies.

Such ‘open societies’ are to be built based on the rule of law, market economies, transparent and accountable governance, freedom of the press and the respect for human rights.

Major Bush critic

Soros is a major critic of the current US administration, donating significant funds to various groups dedicated to defeating the George W Bush in the 2004 elections.

He had also donated US$25 million of his own money to anti-Bush groups, such as MoveOn.org and America Coming Together.

Sensing the direction America was taking, Soros recently published a book titled ‘The Age of Fallibility’ arguing that "America must undergo a change of heart". He said that the war on terror was a “false metaphor”.

The self-made billionaire, whose net worth is US$7.2 billion, is ranked number 28 in Forbes' list of 400 richest Americans in 2005.

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