Editor’s note: With Daim Zainuddin in the spotlight again, Malaysiakini is republishing this 2014 KINIBIZ article on how he went beyond Malaysia to operate on the global scale after his resignation as finance minister.

Following Daim Zainuddin’s resignation from the finance portfolio in 2001, he appeared to be keeping below the radar, creating the perception among some that he has retired.

But the perception changed in 2004 when it came to light that he was involved in Temasek Holdings’ buy-in into Alliance Financial Group (AFG) which wholly owns Alliance Bank Malaysia. This was not his only involvement with Temasek.

“Since I know Temasek, they said they were looking at opportunities in Malaysia. They asked me to make enquiries,” commented Daim in a previously published interview with the Far Eastern Economic Review on his association with Temasek.

Three years later, the perception that Daim is in retirement is well debunked. A new picture emerged