Under Mahathir, Malaysia’s economy grew at a rate of over 8 percent per year until mid-1997, when a currency crisis in neighbouring Thailand caused the Asian financial crisis plunging the whole of Southeast Asia into recession.

 Malaysia experienced rapid economic growth from the 1980s. After a 1985–86 property market depression, growth returned through to the mid-1990s. Mahathir increased privatisation and introduced the New Development Policy (NDP), designed to increase economic wealth for all Malaysians, rather than just Malays. The period saw a shift from an agriculture-based economy to one based on manufacturing and industry in areas such as computers and consumer electronics. It was during this period, too, that the physical landscape of Malaysia changed with the emergence of numerous mega-projects. Notable amongst these projects were the construction of the Petronas Twin Towers (at the time the tallest building in the world, and, as of 2010, still the tallest twin building), KL International Airport (KLIA), the North-South Expressway, the Sepang International Circuit, the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC), the Bakun hydroelectric dam and Putrajaya, the new federal administrative capital. [Source: Wikipedia]

 In the late 1990s, Malaysia was shaken by the Asian financial crisis, which damaged Malaysia's assembly line based economy. Mahathir combated it initially with IMF approved policies. However, the devaluation of the Ringgit and the deepening recession caused him to create his own programme, based on protecting Malaysia from foreign investors and reinvigorating the economy through construction projects and the lowering of interest rates. The policies caused Malaysia's economy to rebound by 2002, but brought disagreement between Mahathir and his deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, who backed the IMF policies. This led to the sacking of the Anwar, causing political unrest. Anwar was arrested and banned from politics on what are considered trumped up charges.

http://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Malaysia/sub5_4e/entry-3694.html

3 August – Proton Saga with Megavalve engine is launched. 

1 November – South Africa's anti-apartheid leader, Nelson Mandela made his four-day visit to Malaysia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_in_Malaysia

Malaysians must never forget that under former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir there were monetary losses amounting to tens of billions of ringgit unaccounted for, and irretrievable.

Opposition politician Syed Husin Ali said, “Petronas has neither been fully transparent nor accountable with how it spends its money, especially in aiding and abetting Tun Mahathir to indulge in unproductive construction of mega projects, to bail out ailing crony companies and corporate figures, and to involve [itself]in excessive and wasteful spending on celebrations and conferences.”

 Malaysia was one of the fast growing economies in the world until the Asian economic crisis in 1997-98. The growth rate in Malaysia averaged 8 percent between 1986 and 1996, one of the highest rates in the world. In that time Malaysia grew from near developing country status to the world's 13th largest economy. The Per capita income in Malaysia rose from US$2,255 in 1990 to US$3,908 in 1995 and was expected to reach US$6,500 a year in the year 2000 before the Asian economic crisis in 1997-98 hit.
http://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Malaysia/sub5_4e/entry-3694.html

Second Phase of Development: Exports and Technology 

 By the 1990s Malaysia had become the world's largest exporter of semiconductors, an industry that dates back to the mid-1970s when many U.S. and Japanese companies set up factories in Malaysia. At that time there was also a trend to produce more assembled products like cameras and VCRS from semiconductors in Malaysia.

 Malaysia's rapid development has been attributed to the transparency of government policies, its educated and skilled workforce, well-developed infrastructure, good communications facilities and efficient bureaucracy.

 High tech industries developed in Malaysia in the 1990s and 2000s included advanced electronics, scientific instruments, biotechnology, automated manufacturing systems, electra-optics and non-linear optics, advanced composite materials, optoelectronics, software engineering, alternative energy sources and aerospace.

 Malaysia in the 1990s was reminiscent of South Korea in the 1980s and Japan in the 1960s and 1970s, when people are intoxicated with their new affluence and happy to leave their poverty behind them.

 Over these three decades Malaysia accomplished a transition from a primary product-dependent economy to one in which manufacturing industry had emerged as the leading growth sector. Rubber and tin, which accounted for 54.3 percent of Malaysian export value in 1970, declined sharply in relative terms to a mere 4.9 percent in 1990