Bridge-builder Lee arrives to strengthen links with Malaysia

South Korea’s president who helped to build Penang Bridge has a special passion for Malaysia.

AT THE lobby of the Hyundai Heavy Industries plant in Ulsan, South Korea, there is a framed picture that President Lee Myung-bak treasures. He is in a group photo with rows of officials from the firm with a special guest who started Malaysia’s “Look East” policy – Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. It was in the 1980s when the 13.5km Penang Bridge project was being built by Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co helmed by the young Lee as its CEO. The bridge, which opened in 1985, became a national landmark for Malaysia.