Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today highlighted the fact that residents in the United States were facing power shortages in contrast to Malaysians who could depend on a regular power supply for their business and home needs.

Addressing some 3,000 Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) employees in Bangsar, he noted that California in the United States was unable to provide efficient power supply for its residents.

"They who have criticised us before are the ones having continuous blackouts now. Look at California - there are still places where there is no electricity at all," said the premier.

"I was told they are still facing blackouts and electricity supply is yet to be fully restored. Do not belittle us, for now we are having the last laugh," said Mahathir.

Mahathir who was on a working visit to the TNB headquarters, claimed that due to the unreliable electricity supply in California, many American investors were now turning to Malaysia in view of the Bakun dam, which he said would be able to generate enough electricity.

"Their bad fortune is our good fortune. We hear an aluminum smelting company has closed down its business there and is thinking of coming over here," he said.

California has been facing statewide outages and continuous blackouts since January, forcing its Independent System Operator, which runs the state's power grid, to impose scheduled blackouts and other conservation efforts.

California's problems have been blamed on high power costs due to the state's 1996 law which deregulated the industry.

Tall buildings

On another note, Mahathir said that Malaysia had to learn from California's mistakes by not depending on one type of power supply.

In his 45-minute speech, Mahathir also reminisced about his childhood when there was hardly any electricity supply as opposed to how the country was today.

"We have the tallest buildings in the world, even though we are only a developing country. I hear there are other developed countries wanting to build taller buildings than our Petronas one," he said.

"Our buildings are investments and we will be more spirited when we can build our country with our own materials," added Mahathir.

The premier also called upon Malaysians to be united so that the country would not be colonised again.

At the same function, Mahathir 'virtually' launched TNB's largest power generation station in Kapar, a housing estate for TNB employees in Pasir Gudang, Johor, Universiti Tenaga (Uniten) and the 'Prosper' electrical goods chain store.