A twin-tower structure built from books as a tribute to outgoing Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has been vandalised with more than 2,000 books stolen, the inventor said today.

Officially endorsed as the tallest book tower in Malaysia, the 20-metre twin-tower structure was on display at the Putrajaya Convention Centre during the Organisation of Islamic Conference summit last week, said Billi Lim, who is a motivational writer.

Modelled after the Petronas Twin Towers which rank among the tallest buildings in the world, Lim said he created it using more than 2,000 books written by the premier and other authors as well as his motivational series. The books were worth around RM70,000.

Return the books

"I was speechless when told that my Tallest Book Tower tribute to the prime minister had been stripped, leaving only the skeleton of the tower," Lim told Bernama news agency, adding that only one book was left dangling on the structure.

He has lodged a complaint with the police but appealed for the books to be returned to him because he has planned to bring the book tower on a nationwide roadshow as a tribute to Mahathir, who resigns on Oct 31 after 22 years in office. - AFP