Born on April 29, 1938, in Alor Setar, Kedah, Daim was the youngest of 13 children. He received his early education at the Seberang Perak Malay School in Alor Setar before attending the Sultan Abdul Hamid College, an English-medium school.
He finished his upper secondary education at St Xavier’s Institution, George Town, Penang. After that, Daim furthered his studies as a barrister-at-law at Lincoln’s Inn in the UK in 1959, and in urban planning at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1979.
Mastermind behind Malaysia’s economic recovery
Daim is known among bankers, tycoons, politicians and the media as the mastermind who rescued Malaysia from economic turmoil in the 1980s and again in the 1990s.
Characterised by business observers as restrained yet fiercely shrewd as an economist and businessman, he is best known as former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s chief economic troubleshooter.
During his first tenure as finance minister from 1984 to 1991, Daim not only helped restore the country’s economy but also enabled Malaysia to record an economic growth that was among the highest in Asia.
From a negative growth of 1.03% in 1985, the gross domestic product rebounded to 9.06% in 1989, setting the nation on a sound footing for greater expansion.
Prominence in real estate and finance
Before his appointment as finance minister, the self-made Daim had earned significant fame and respect in real estate and finance.
His initial attempts in the salt and plastic production industries were met with challenges, but in 1973, he ventured into real estate development, where he established Syarikat Maluri Sdn Bhd.
The company played a key role in developing two townships in Kuala Lumpur – Taman Maluri and Taman Bukit Maluri.
In 1981, Daim acquired Indo-Suez Bank and renamed it Malaysian-French Bank. He later exchanged his predominant ownership in the institution for a smaller share in United Malayan Banking Corporation, now known as RHB.
His contributions to the Urban Development Authority and Umno’s investment company, Fleet Holdings Sdn Bhd, showcased his influential role in shaping Malaysia’s business landscape.
Leaving banking to help save the economy, again
In a strategic pivot after his first stint as minister, Daim founded the International Commercial Bank (ICB) in Switzerland in 1991, signalling his intention to play a significant role in the global financial arena.
Over the next decade, ICB, under his guidance, expanded its operations globally, venturing into Sierra Leone and Gambia.
However, despite enjoying great success in banking, he relinquished his ventures in the sector to assume the role of finance minister in 1999 – at Mahathir’s request – during the Asian Financial Crisis, which threatened to destroy Malaysia’s economy.
After nearly two years in the role, he resigned and exited the political arena to focus on his business ventures.
Comeback to lead the Council of Eminent Persons
Daim, who had garnered a reputation of being Mahathir’s right-hand man, made a comeback in the political arena after the 2018 general election, when he was given the responsibility of leading the Pakatan Harapan government’s Council of Eminent Persons.
The council included former Bank Negara Malaysia governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz, former Petronas president Hassan Marican, tycoon Robert Kuok and economist Jomo Kwame Sundaram.
The council’s purpose was to advise the government on economic and financial matters.