Oleh/By		:	DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD 
Tempat/Venue 	: 	DEWAN MCA, JALAN AMPANG, 
			KUALA LUMPUR 
Tarikh/Date 	: 	05/08/85 
Tajuk/Title  	: 	THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE 5TH 
			ASIAN CONGRESS OF PAEDIATRICS 




 Dr. Sam Abraham, Chairman of the 5th. Asian Congress of
Paediatrics; Distinguished guests; Ladies and gentleman.

I am extremely honoured to be invited to declare open this 5th. Asian
Congress of Paediatrics. Although I am a renegade doctor, I am still
interested in forums such as this.

2. Politically the world is divided into many regions and countries but
the mobility of people in our age has made boundaries quite irrelevant
where diseases and health are concerned. Hence the usefulness and the need
for international exchanges of information and ideas which are made
possible by conferences such as this one today.

3. Malaysia has long recognised the importance of the health of mother and
child. Our public health activities and rural health programmes have grown
out of what used to be called infant welfare centres. Maternal and child
health care has been accorded the highest priority in our health programme
development, and the interest of the mother and child is always considered
in all other related programmes. We have achieved a significant measure of
success. I am sure our Malaysian participants to this Congress will only
be too glad to share their experiences with those of you who may be
interested to know more.

Ladies and gentlemen, 

4. If children of the world were articulate and could express themselves,
millions would be crying out why they were ever born at all. Deprived of
adequate food, proper shelter and clothing, and exposed to dangerous
biological and physical environment, millions die prematurely. Others,
born in more affluent countries, have everything except the love that
they, need for some parents in these countries have become selfish and no
longer believe in the family as an in stitution. Millions of others are
killed or maimed annually in violence or natural disasters. Helplessly
these children stare wide-eyed as the adults engage in battles the reasons
for which they do not understand.

5. They are powerless against the inequities that they see around them,
and they must be puzzled by the poverty and squalor in green fertile
lands. They wonder why they must get their milk from bottles rather than
from their mothers' breast, why even life sustaining food and water are
scarce, and why adults must speed or smoke themselves to death. Looking
around they cannot find very much to be happy about. Though they
constitute between 40 to 50% of the total population in many parts of the
world, what they see is an adult-dominated world.

6. We will find it extremely difficult to explain how these phenomena came
about, or to justify the actions that we have taken. Now and again our
conscience is jolted by some tragic happenings in some distant land as and
when the media chooses to focus on them. Thus the famine in Africa has
been going on for a considerable time while our attention was riveted on
the goings on in affluent societies, their intrigues and their petty
struggles. The chances are that there are many more starving children in
many more places. Indeed they are likely to be in our own backyard,
undramatised until there is some political gain to be had. And if there is
some political gain, starvation of children can be invented. This is the
tragic fact of life which no child can understand whether he is starved of
food or of love.

7. Considering the sad state of the world why do we want to bring children
into it?. Wouldn't it be a kindness to stop producing children? 

8. The problem is that hope springs eternal in the human breast. We still
think we can create a better world for our children. Besides, human beings
are gregarious. We need the company of our own kind. And nothing heightens
up our dull moments and our old age than the sound of children's laughter
and their innocent chatter.

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

9. Malaysia has decided to have a population of 70 million by the year
2100, that is 115 years from now. That means more than quadrupling our
present population of 15 million. Knowing the misery they will be faced
with, why do we want to do it? 

10. The answer is that quite apart from our hopes for a better Malaysia,
if not the world; apart also from our natural need for the company of our
own kind, we think that the numbers will contribute towards less foreign
economic and other dominations. In other words we have a political and
economic need to be more populous. It is the kind of thing that doctors
and sociologists abhor but we think the reasons are good enough.

11. Numbers by themselves do not mean anything. There are countries with
huge population which are extremely rich and others with the same
population which are distressingly poor. The well-being of a people is not
dependant on their numbers. It is dependant on their productivity. This in
turn is dependant on the value systems that we bring up our children to
believe in.

12. A hard-working, honest and disciplined society will prosper despite
the most hostile environment. We see today many countries with little or
no resources, buffetted by typhoons and earthquakes, yet prosperous and
powerful. The answer lies in the value systems that the people adhere to.

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

13. Paediatricians are concerned with the physical health of the
children. You may even be interested in their mental health. But these are
not everything. The behaviour of children and the ethical values they
absorb will determine what kind of future they will have. Indeed it will
determine what kind of society or nation they will live in. If their
upbringing is such that they absorb all the wrong values and ideas, they
may end up as burdens to the society in which they live. On the other hand
if they are imbued with the right spirit and the higher values then not
only will they be assets to the society, but they will help shape the
success and glory of that society.

14. A few decades ago Dr. Benjamin Spock wrote a book on the upbringing of
children. He believed that children must not be frustrated in any way. He
believed in the independence of the tiny tots even though they act without
any preconceived values and ideas. In fact they have only the knee jerk
reactions to everything that happens to them.

15. The result is that whole generations grew up which give themselves up
completely to their instincts. They do what they feel like doing instead
of being in accord with the high values cultivated through centuries of
civilisation. The family as a unit disintegrated. Indeed in many instances
society disintegrated. Thus the Hippy phenomenon, co-habitations, free
sex, homo sexualism and communal families. Even the advent of AIDS has not
jolted them and us to the deleterious effect of the wrong values that we
have tolerated and indeed by default accepted.

16. I am not about to preach. But I do think that much of the ills of the
world today is due to the abdication of parents as parents in the true
sense. Children are no longer being brought up with the proper training
and value systems that will enable them to cope with the problems that
they must face in life. And this abdication is partly at least due to the
thinking among paediatricians that their role is limited to the care of
the physical and mental health of the children and not their development
into good citizens of a civilised society.

17. It has been shown that one M.D. writing just one book can have such a
tremendous effect on the character and development of a whole
nation. Cannot there be another Spock, or indeed a number of Spocks who
will write books and guide families, and in particular mothers on the
right way to bring up healthy children.

18. The mothers of today are a confused lot. Between their desire to
discipline their children and their abhorrence of child bashing, they are
completely lost. They just do not know how to handle the situation. Thus,
children are likely to grow up into nothing more than adult imitations of
the brats they once were.

19. Child Bashing is a hideous crime. It should not be tolerated for one
moment more than we can help. But the kind of light punishment for
children who have been unduly naughty should not be classed as child
bashing. The slight pain they experience will remind them that they live
in a world that is still based on the premise that crime brings with it
punishment. It will help them adjust to the world that accepts the
relationship between crime and punishment.

20. But many mothers feel that children are too small to understand. They
should not be punished because they are ignorant. And so they grow up as
ignorant brats to populate this world and undertake responsibilities for
which they have not been prepared. Is it any wonder that we see today the
children of many good families turning to drugs and crimes and a
life-style that is wholly hedonistic, contributing not at all to the
betterment of society? 21. These are my thoughts. I am sure there will be
many who will disagree. But perhaps there will be a few who will agree and
will write books that will change the attitudes of mothers and
child-care. Indeed I hope there will be paediatricians who would consider
changing the attitude and the role of paediatricians, to make them
conscious that their role and indeed their duty goes beyond mere health
care as we understand it; that paediatricians have a responsibility to
help develop a child into a good citizen and an asset to society.

22. If I am not generous I would say that you have a need to atone for the
wrongs done by one paediatrician to our society. But as I am generous and
fair-minded I will not go so far. It would suffice if you would just give
some thought to this important role that I have elaborated upon.

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

23. Medical doctors do not make good politicians. They are too prone to
lecture to people as they do to their patients. They think they know
enough to tell everyone what they ought to do.

24. You will have to excuse me for this lecture on what you ought to
do. It is merely that I am a doctor, though a renegade from the
profession. I just cannot resist the opportunity to tell you what you
ought to do.

25. Now that I have got this off my chest, I would like to bid you all
welcome to Malaysia and to wish you a fruitful discussion on the subjects
of your profession. Perhaps Asia will be better off because of your
interest and your contribution. And when you tire of the papers that are
presented for your discussions, do take time off to visit some of the
places in Kuala Lumpur and in other parts of Malaysia. We welcome you and
we wish your stay here to be not only instructive but also pleasant.

26. Now, with great pleasure I declare the 5th. Asian Congress of
Paediatrics open