no one writes about Malaysia's (or Mahathir-Daim-Anwar's) "crony capitalism" during the 90s as well as Edmund Terence Gomez, and i think this is his best book on the subject, together with prominent economist Jomo KS. from Daim's "Peremba Boys" to Anwar's "MRCB Boys" to Renong's Halim Saad, Berjaya's Vincent Tan, MAS' Tajudin Ramli, the YTL's partriarchs, Ananda Krishnan as well as a host of other tycoons; from the privatization frenzy that changed corporate Mala... (show more)

no one writes about Malaysia's (or Mahathir-Daim-Anwar's) "crony capitalism" during the 90s as well as Edmund Terence Gomez, and i think this is his best book on the subject, together with prominent economist Jomo KS. from Daim's "Peremba Boys" to Anwar's "MRCB Boys" to Renong's Halim Saad, Berjaya's Vincent Tan, MAS' Tajudin Ramli, the YTL's partriarchs, Ananda Krishnan as well as a host of other tycoons; from the privatization frenzy that changed corporate Malaysia & put important cash-cows into private hands to the the heady days of Danaharta-led Government 'Bailouts' during the 97/98 Economic Crisis, this is a must-read economic history of the country.

highly recommended. (show less)

Oil politics 101, from the days John D Rockefeller founded Standard Oil (precursor to ExxonMobil) and became the first American billionaire, to the rise of worldwide oil 'nationalization' characterized by the 70s Arab oil embargo & the Iranian Revolution, that gave birth to powerful state-owned oil corporations challenging Western hegemony, until the complications of the Gulf War, on why the West could not afford to let Kuwait fall to Saddam Hussein's Iraq. now a major referential in stud... (show more)

Oil politics 101, from the days John D Rockefeller founded Standard Oil (precursor to ExxonMobil) and became the first American billionaire, to the rise of worldwide oil 'nationalization' characterized by the 70s Arab oil embargo & the Iranian Revolution, that gave birth to powerful state-owned oil corporations challenging Western hegemony, until the complications of the Gulf War, on why the West could not afford to let Kuwait fall to Saddam Hussein's Iraq. now a major referential in studies relating to the history of the oil industry, it has even made into 4-part documentary by PBS (which is good, but not quite as engaging as the book).one need not wonder what the fuss is all about the 'War on Terror' in Iraq after reading this book. (show less)