cakap cakap...The First Seri Perdana and Socfin House.

steadyaku47 comment : a snippet from my correspondence with Rahim Aki...one of the few Malays who lived history as we have known it to be:

"It is interesting to know the history of this house and that owned by
London Tin situated on the next hill at Jalan Damansara called Sri
Timah. 

The story goes that the two prominent expatriate businessmen,
the Rubber Magnet and the Tin Magnet, both competed to build the
biggest houses from themselves! So emerged the Socfin House and Sri
Timah, and Sri Timah eventually became Sri Perdana as the Offricial
Residence of the Malaysian Prime Minister. and this happened when I
was CEO of MMC. 

Mahathir phoned me on his first day as PM, to enquire
if the house was still available to the Government which MMC offered
when Tun Hussein Onn was PM but did not respond. So when I informed
Mahathir that the house was still available, he wanted to visit it and
it was in the same afternoon that he and Dr Hasmah and myself went to
see the house. 

He took a great liking for the house and it was decided
it would be exchanged with a piece of land in KL to be arranged by
Alwi Jantan, the then Deputy Chief Secretary of Cabinet. 

Daim's construction company was given the contract to undertake the
renovation of the house at a cost of RM17 million, although it was
rumoured that it was double that sum!"