Oleh/By		:	DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD 
Tempat/Venue 	: 	PARLIAMENT HOUSE 
Tarikh/Date 	: 	08/05/83 
Tajuk/Title  	: 	AT THE DINNER IN HONOUR OF HIS 
			EXCELLENCY MR. YASUHIRO NAKASONE, 
			PRIME MINISTER OF JAPAN 




Your Excellency Prime Minister Nakasone, and Madame
Nakasone; Excellencies; Ladies and Gentlemen.

On behalf of the Government and people of Malaysia I would like to extend
to Your Excellency, Madame Nakasone and the distinguished members of your
delegation, a very warm fraternal welcome to Malaysia. I am most delighted
at the opportunity of playing host on this occasion and I hope your stay
with us will be a pleasant and memorable one. My only regret is that your
visit is so short that it will not be possible for me to fully reciprocate
the hospitality extended to me and members of my delegation when I visited
Japan last January.

2. During my last visit to your country, we had had a very fruitful
exchange of views covering a wide range of issues that are of mutual
interest and concern to our two countries. I am looking forward to
continuing that exchange of views with you tomorrow morning. I am
confident that through these exchanges there will emerge greater
understanding and cooperation between our two countries.

Your Excellency, 

3. In our talks in Tokyo, I was deeply impressed, by the frankness and
sincerity with which Your Excellency expressed your views, and I was very
happy that there was a great deal of concurrence in our perceptions of the
political and economic situations of the world, particularly the situation
in Southeast Asia. In this respect, we are highly appreciative of the
understanding and support given by Your Excellency's Government towards
the efforts of ASEAN in promoting peace, stability and prosperity in the
region and in strengthening our national as well as regional resilience
through economic cooperation and development.

4. I cannot over-emphasise the importance that we attach to socio-economic
development to ensure the prosperity and well-being of our
people. However, to achieve our objectives, Malaysia, as a developing
country, has to seek the assistance and cooperation of the industrially
advanced nations. We believe that the benefits of such cooperation and
assistance will be mutual.

5. We have not forgotten that Japan has extended meaningful cooperation
and has participated very actively in our economic development efforts
todate. During my recent visit to your country, the Japanese Government
had agreed to extend to Malaysia a Special Yen Credit amounting to Yen 50
billion, in addition to the annual yen credit, for the development of
Malaysia's infrastructural facilities. We are very grateful to you, and to
the Japanese Government for your confidence in us, and for your continued
co-operation.

Your Excellency, 

6. I had also the opportunity to acquaint Your Excellency with Malaysia's
Look East Policy during my recent visit. It is most unfortunate that at
the time when we launched our Look East Policy, the developed countries
which are trading partners of Japan had become bitterly hostile to
Japan. Consequently the Look East Policy has attracted resentment among
western nations. They think that the policy will benefit Japan. They also
think of the remote danger of Malaysia actually succeeding in being more
competitive through the adoption of some of the methods and discipline of
Japan.

7. There is now an obviously concerted attempt to discredit the Look East
Policy. Not only is the antagonism of foreigners being aroused, but
Malaysians themselves are being urged to reject the Policy. Words are put
into the mouth of Malaysians, or are twisted, so as to give a picture of
their distaste of the Policy and by extension, of Japan. Definite racial
overtones have been injected into this campaign. There are even attempts
to play members of the Malaysian Government against each other. Lately the
attacks have turned personal with all kinds of innuendos and insinuations.

8. I regret this spill over of anti-Japanese feelings into Malaysia and
the irresponsibility of the culprits. But we are more convinced than ever
that the Look East Policy is the right policy for us and we will continue
to be close and cooperative with Japan.

9. When we launched the Look East Policy, we were only thinking of eastern
nations, particularly Japan and the Japanese as models. We did not expect
extra aid from Japan as a result of the Policy. But Your Excellency had
pledged Japan's readiness to extend its utmost cooperation in this
matter. We are very thankful for this gesture. Since then, the first batch
of 135 industrial trainees have already completed their six-month
training, and the second batch of 226 trainees have now arrived in Japan
to begin theirs. At the same time, 24 trainees from the first batch are
staying back in Japan to continue their studies in Japan's Technical
Colleges. I would like to take this opportunity to express our deep
appreciation for all the cooperation and assistance extended by the
Japanese Government to the Government of Malaysia in making this programme
a success. Malaysia is seeking further assistance from Japan to implement
projects under the Fourth Malaysia Plan and I hope it is possible for the
Japanese Government to continue to extend assistance to us on terms and
conditions no less favourable than in the past. Development assistance for
improving the livelihood of our people and the peoples of ASEAN will not
only contribute to our well-being, but also to our security. Since a large
portion of your supplies either come from or passes through South-East
Asia, peace and security in this region is no doubt of vital interest to
your country.

10. It is clear that through cooperation and development, Malaysia and the
other ASEAN countries individually, or as a group, are contributing not
only to the stability, peace and security of this region, but also to that
of neighbouring countries, including Japan. Poverty and disparity in
development opens the door to all kinds of agitation and subversion. On
the other hand prosperity not only lessens the opportunities for
subversion but creates greater prosperity. This prosperity in turn
benefits the people of the region concerned as well as the trading
partners for whom there will be a rich market. In fact the whole world
will benefit if developing countries like Malaysia and her ASEAN partners
succeed in their programme to industrialise. There is no call therefore
for disparaging and undermining the so-called NICS or Newly
Industrialising countries.

Your Excellency, 

11. The conflict in Kampuchea arising from the continued foreign military
occupation of that country is, to say the least, destabilising. The
conflict has generated big-power involvement in the region and posed a
serious threat to regional peace and security as well as an obstacle to
the creation of a Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality (ZOPFAN) in
Southeast Asia. Vietnam's intransigent attitude on this problem is
unacceptable, and its recent attacks on Kampuchean civilians and on Thai
territory are nothing less than acts of unprovoked aggression. We demand
that Vietnam should cease all such hostilities and withdraw its forces
from Kampuchea. On this matter there can be no compromise and we are
grateful to the Government of Japan for giving its full support to ASEAN
in our continuing efforts to bring about a comprehensive political
settlement to the problem based on the total withdrawal of all foreign
troops from Kampuchea, respect for the independence, sovereignty and
territorial integrity of Kampuchea and the right of the Kampuchean people
to determine their future in a freely-held election in accordance with the
ICK Declaration and other relevant United Nations resolutions which have
been endorsed and supported by the international community. In this
connection, Malaysia welcomed and supported the establishment of the
Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea under the Presidency of His
Royal Highness Prince Norodom Sihanouk as a positive step towards
implementing the ICK Declaration and the relevant UN resolutions. I am
confident that Japan will continue to assist the Coalition Government of
Prince Sihanouk and to extend the same strong support to ASEAN in our
quest for a speedy settlement of the Kampuchean problem.

Your Excellency, 

12. Malaysia and Japan have enjoyed very warm and close relations for many
years. Fruitful cooperation between our two countries in various fields of
activities is progressing steadily both at the governmental and private
sector levels. There have been increasing exchanges of visits between our
peoples. Recently, both Governments successfully concluded an arrangement
concerning the reciprocal waiving of visas between Malaysia and Japan in
order to promote further exchanges between our peoples. I am heartened to
learn that Your Excellency is also proposing to promote greater exchanges
of intellectuals, scholars and teachers for cooperation in science and
technology so that we do not fall behind in these fields. I would like to
welcome these developments which, in consonance with Malaysia's Look East
Policy will, I am confident, result in greater mutual understanding and
friendship between the peoples of Malaysia and Japan.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, 

13. May I now ask you all to join me in a toast to the health and
happiness of His Excellency Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone and Madame
Nakasone, to the Government and people of Japan, and to the close
friendship between our Governments and peoples.