DR MAHATHIR RECEIVES LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD AT KL MAYOR TOURISM AWARDS 2011

KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama) - Former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir
Mohamad received the "Lifetime Achievement Award" at the Kuala Lumpur Mayor's
Tourism Awards 2011 here Tuesday night.

The award was presented by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak in an
exclusive and prestigious dinner held especially for presenting the award to
Dr Mahathir and a number of other recipients.

Dr Mahathir was presented with a special trophy, a custom made Objet
D'art designed by Mouawad's creative team in Paris, made of several components
from various countries around the world.

The base of the trophy was a hand carved slab of natural Lapis Lazuli from
Afghanistan weighing more than 1 kilogram.

In his speech, Dr Mahathir said he was honoured but added a touch of humour
by saying that the award was presented early for his life was still moving on
actively.

Speaking about Kuala Lumpur, he said the city now has grown rapidly since
it's establishment as a Federal Territory with many businesses and beautiful
landscaping.

Dr Mahathir said the government now was talking about growing a "Greater
Kuala Lumpur" which resulted from rapid growth of the city and now the
development had spilled out of the city border all over the Klang Valley.

"Kuala Lumpur, was beautifully landscaped today not only by Kuala Lumpur
City Hall (DBKL) but also by the private and land owners but before this we told
them that they should look after not only within their compound but also the
roads.

"I am very happy indeed that the roads in the city are now well kept and the
landscaping very good," he said.

Meanwhile, Kuala Lumpur Mayor Ahmad Fuad Ismail in his speech said
this awards were created to recognize and reward establishments and individuals
who were responsible to beautify Kuala Lumpur so as to attract visitors.


"The incentives attached to winning tonight's award should encourage more
industry players to contribute creatively and make city tourism not only
lucrative but also help Kuala Lumpur achieve a high income economic status it
covets.

"There will be three types of awards presented this year, namely Award for
Outstanding Achievement, Award of Excellence and the Mayor's Recognition
Award," he said.

Apart from Dr Mahathir, various tourism service providers like
accommodation, restaurant, tourist attraction, nightspot, shopping mall, tour
operators, foreign airline and print media were given recognition.