In 1999, he set the world record for the highest parachute jump from a building when he jumped from the Petronas Towers in Kaula Lumpur, Malaysia.

BBC: Profile: Skydiver Felix Baumgartner

The 15 km-wide strip will run 55 km from the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur to the new international airport at Sepang near the Negri Sembilan state border.

CNN: The Center of the World?

Such composites of steel and concrete have been used in the world's tallest building--the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia--and its most experimental, Frank Gehry's Jimi Hendrix Museum in Seattle.

FORBES: They Will Rise Again

In addition to crafting Malaysia's grand, national affirmative action scheme, Mahathir, who turns 73 on Dec. 20, also personally chose bathroom fixtures for the world's tallest building, Kuala Lumpur's Petronas Towers.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia

Malaysia's Petronas towers are 452m-tall (1, 483 ft).

BBC: Sky-high WTC finalists chosen

The country's remarkable modernisation drive was symbolised, nine years ago, by the completion of the Petronas twin towers, in Kuala Lumpur, then the world's tallest buildings.

ECONOMIST: Malaysia at 50