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Cover photos via Wikimedia Commons: Wee Hong, Liauzh (CC BY-SA 4.0); Descon7, Leminhel, Gusztáv Klados (CC BY-SA 3.0); pratanti (CC BY 2.0); Wiki Farazi (CC0). Cover licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
A viral post imagined every Mahathir-era landmark renamed after him. In real life, not one of the big ones carries his name. The Twin Towers, KLIA, Putrajaya, Sepang, Proton and the North-South Expressway are all named after something else. And part of the story runs straight through Ipoh.
"Menara Mahathir Twin Towers."
"Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Mahathir."
"Putra Mahathir Jaya."
A playful AI-made collage on TikTok asked what Malaysia would look like if Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had named everything after himself. It drew thousands of likes and shares.
It is funny because it is so far from the truth.
He led the government through one of Malaysia's biggest building booms: towers, an airport, a new government city, a racetrack, a national car, a highway from the Thai border to Johor.
But look at the real names.
Petronas. Kuala Lumpur. Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra. Sepang. North and South.
Not one says "Mahathir."
Earlier in this series we told you about tin barons, herbal tea and heritage buildings. In our last story, we told you about Tan Chin Nam, the boy who sold chickens by the roadside and climbed, one rung at a time, to Ipoh Garden, IGB and Mid Valley.
Today is a long climb of a different kind: a whole country's.
Who Is Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad?
Mahathir Mohamad was born in Alor Setar, Kedah, with 10 July 1925 as his official birth date (some records give 20 December 1925).
He trained as a doctor at the King Edward VII College of Medicine in Singapore.
He was sworn in as Malaysia's fourth prime minister on 16 July 1981 and stepped down on 31 October 2003, after more than 22 years.
He served again from 2018 to 2020, but this story is about that first long stretch and what was planned, launched or opened during it.
These projects were costly, and their costs and benefits are still debated. That is for another day. Today is about names, and what children can learn from building big.
Petronas Twin Towers: Named After a Company, Not a Man
The towers carry the name of Petronas, short for Petroliam Nasional Berhad, Malaysia's national oil and gas company.
Excavation started on 1 March 1993 on the site of the old Selangor Turf Club, Kuala Lumpur's former racecourse.
The architect was César Pelli. The floor plan is based on an eight-pointed star from Islamic geometry, the Rub el Hizb.
To finish on time, the government hired two construction teams, one for each tower. A Japanese consortium led by Hazama built Tower 1. A South Korean consortium led by Samsung C&T built Tower 2.
At 451.9 metres and 88 storeys, they were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004. They are still the tallest twin towers on Earth.
They were officially opened on 31 August 1999.
KLIA: Named After a City It Is Not Even In
Kuala Lumpur International Airport is not in Kuala Lumpur. It sits in Sepang, Selangor, about 45 km south of the city.
Ground was broken on 1 June 1993, to replace the crowded Subang airport.
The main terminal was designed by Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa around a simple idea: "airport in the forest, forest in the airport." There is even a patch of real rainforest inside the airport.
KLIA was officially opened by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Tuanku Ja'afar, on 27 June 1998, just before the Commonwealth Games.
Putrajaya: Named After Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj
The land was once Prang Besar, "Great War," a rubber estate started in 1921 by British veterans of the First World War.
On 12 October 1994, the Cabinet decided to rename Prang Besar "Putrajaya," in memory of Malaysia's first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj.
Putra means "prince" or "son." Jaya means "success" or "victory."
So the new government city was named after the Bapa Kemerdekaan, not after the man in office while it was being built.
The Prime Minister's Department moved there in 1999, and Putrajaya became a federal territory on 1 February 2001.
It was planned as a "city in a garden," with nearly 40% of the land set aside for parks, lakes and open space.
Next door, Cyberjaya was launched on 17 May 1997 as part of the Multimedia Super Corridor, a technology zone stretching from the Twin Towers to KLIA.
Its name blends "cyber" and "Putrajaya." So even the tech city's name points back to Tunku.
Sepang International Circuit: Named After a District
Designed by German designer Hermann Tilke, the circuit was built between 1997 and 1999 and inaugurated on 7 March 1999.
Malaysia's first Formula One Grand Prix was held there on 17 October 1999. Eddie Irvine won for Ferrari.
That was 27 years ago, in October 1999.
And in 2026, Formula One came back. On 4 October 2026, Sepang hosted the relocated Bahrain Grand Prix, the first F1 race at the circuit since 2017. Max Verstappen won.
Its name is simply the district it stands in: Sepang.
The North-South Expressway: Named After a Direction, Built Through Ipoh
Here is where the story comes home.
The North-South Expressway was first proposed in 1977, before Mahathir became prime minister, to relieve the jammed Federal Route 1. It stalled, then was revived after he took office.
It was built in stages, and one of the early sections was ours.
On 24 September 1987, the Sultan of Perak, Sultan Azlan Shah, opened the Ipoh to Changkat Jering stretch: about 55 km of highway costing about RM360 million.
That day he also opened the Menora Tunnel near Jelapang, cut beneath the Keledang Range just north of Ipoh. It has twin bores, one for each direction, each a little over 800 metres long.
Drive the expressway north from Ipoh towards Kuala Kangsar and Penang, and you pass straight through it.
The final missing link was in Perak too. The Gopeng to Tapah stretch was opened on 7 February 1994 by Sultan Azlan Shah, who was then also the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
The whole expressway, about 847.7 km by the National Archives' count, was officially opened on 8 September 1994 at Rawang, where a time capsule was placed. It was meant to be opened on 31 May 2018, when the original concession was due to end. The concession now runs to 2038, and as far as public reports show, the capsule is still waiting.
Its name? North and South: two directions on a compass.
Proton: Named by an Acronym, Saga by a Soldier
In 1979, as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade and Industry, Mahathir asked for a study on whether Malaysia could make its own car.
Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional, Proton for short, was incorporated on 7 May 1983, with HICOM holding 70% and Mitsubishi companies 30%. Even "Proton" is no one's name: it means National Automobile Enterprise.
In 1984, Proton ran a nationwide naming contest that drew 102,823 entries. The winner was Staff Sergeant Ismail Jaafar, an army man based in Penang. He said the idea came from a game of Scrabble: Safety, Achievement, Greatness, Ability. Saga.
Saga is also the Malay name for the small, hard red seed of the saga plant.
The Proton Saga was officially launched on 9 July 1985.
The national car was named by a sergeant, not by a prime minister.
And Proton has a Perak chapter.
Its second factory, in Tanjung Malim, was meant to open in August 1998. The 1997 Asian financial crisis delayed it. The plant began operating in November 2003, just after Mahathir stepped down, and was officially opened on 26 February 2005.
In September 2025, Proton opened what it describes as Malaysia's first dedicated electric-vehicle assembly plant there.
The SMART Tunnel and KL Tower: Be Precise With the Dates
Menara Kuala Lumpur, the 421-metre KL Tower, broke ground on 1 October 1991 and was officially opened on 1 October 1996.
The SMART Tunnel, the Stormwater Management And Road Tunnel, needs more care. The government sought proposals in 2001. Works began in 2003, the year he stepped down. The motorway opened in May 2007, after he had left office.
It is 9.7 km long: a motorway on normal days, and in a big storm a giant drain that carries floodwater away from the city centre. Good history is precise history.
So, Is Anything Named After Mahathir?
A few smaller things do carry his name. Universiti Utara Malaysia set up an institute in his honour, the Institut Pemikiran Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. His childhood home in Alor Setar was restored and opened to the public in 1992 as Rumah Kelahiran Mahathir.
But none of the megaprojects in that viral collage carries his name.
When his former official residence, Sri Perdana, was opened as a gallery in December 2003, his successor said, as reported by Bernama:
"In fact, when he was leading the nation, he did not want buildings to be named after him. He said it's enough if he is known as someone who has helped develop the country."
Mahathir himself later said that, while in office, he did not allow schools, streets or buildings to be named after living ministers and officials.
Whatever you think of his politics, it is an interesting rule to think about.
What the Mahathir-Era Megaprojects Teach Our Children
In this series, we talk about millionaires and builders. This time the builder was a nation.
First lesson: think big.
A country of rubber estates and tin mines decided it could build the world's tallest towers and its own car. Ambition can be taught.
Second lesson: plan for the next generation.
Putrajaya set aside nearly 40% of its land for green space. A time capsule at Rawang was sealed in 1994 for people not yet born.
Third lesson: build things that outlast you.
The Twin Towers are still the world's tallest twins. The Saga name has been on our roads since 1985.
Fourth lesson: the work matters more than the name.
Putrajaya honours Tunku. Proton's first car was named by a sergeant. Let the work speak.
Fifth lesson: big things take many hands.
Architects and builders from Asia, Europe and the Americas, a Sultan of Perak opening a tunnel near Jelapang, and countless Malaysian workers whose names appear on no building.
Sixth lesson: setbacks are part of the plan.
The 1997 crisis slowed Putrajaya and delayed the Tanjung Malim plant by years. Both were finished anyway.
Seventh lesson: be precise.
The expressway was first proposed in 1977. The SMART Tunnel opened in 2007. Saying so makes the story true, not smaller.
In our last story, Tan Chin Nam showed us that there is no elevator to success.
Today, a whole country shows us the same thing, one tower, one tunnel and one kilometre of highway at a time.
The Ipoh Stretch of a Nation-Building Story
So the next time the road out of Ipoh dips into the Menora Tunnel, remember what you are driving through.
A tunnel opened by a Sultan of Perak in 1987, on a highway whose last link was also in Perak.
And a set of national icons named after a company, a city, a founding father, a district, a game of Scrabble and two directions on a compass.
Not one of them named after the man in charge while they were built.
Tin built fortunes in this city. And a highway through the Keledang Range tied Ipoh to a fast-growing nation.
Born in Ipoh. Built for the world.
Which of these landmarks have you visited, or driven through? And if you could name a building after someone who inspired you, who would it be?
This story is part of Born in Ipoh. Built for the World., our City of Millionaires heritage series. At EdQuest International School in Ipoh, we believe history, character and critical thinking are best learned through real stories, including the stories of our own city.
Stories in this series are shared for informational and educational purposes. Where accounts differ, we say so. We respect all races, religions and cultures, and we do not represent or endorse any political party or movement.
