Oleh/By		:	DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD 
Tempat/Venue 	: 	NASSAU, BAHAMAS 
Tarikh/Date 	: 	16/10/85 
Tajuk/Title  	: 	THE COMMONWEALTH HEADS OF 
			GOVERNMENT MEETING 




Your Excellencies; Distinguished Delegates; Ladies and Gentlemen.

I must confess my pleasure at being here in this enchanting Caribbean
paradise. The Commonwealth has done well to choose the Bahamas for this
conference. On behalf of the Malaysian delegation I would like to thank
the Government of the Bahamas and in particular the Honourable the Prime
Minister for the hospitality and courtesy extended to us.

2. I cannot help but be soothed by the environment and the gracious
hospitality, despite my jaundiced view of the Commonwealth. However, the
agenda that the Commonwealth Secretary-General has prepared for us, and
the international scene forces us to face the realities. And the realities
are quite different from what we see in this paradise on earth.

3. I shall try to be brief and to the point. First the Commonwealth. It is
not what it was when it started. It is no longer a club for nations
founded by migrants from Europe. It is now a collection of former colonies
who have been persuaded to join the Commonwealth through oblique hints
that they will benefit from it. In the event they have found the
Commonwealth failing to live up to the promise. If the Commonwealth is to
be perpetuated, the Common wealth must achieve tangible and meaningful
results for its members. It must give some substance to the term "common
wealth", particularly for the poorer members.

4. Malaysia's experience of the Commonwealth has not endeared the
Organisation to it. Indeed the goodwill that we had when we first joined
it has been worn thin with the passage of events and time. We have nothing
against the majority of the members with whom we have good bilateral
relations, anyway. But I would say that good, bad, or indifferent, the
relations would have been there whether there is a Commonwealth or not.

5. The only episode that we appreciate about the Commonwealth is when it
expelled and made a pariah of South Africa. I shall say a few more things
about that later, as it is the most important reason, in our view, for
this present meeting of the Commonwealth.

6. However, I would like to take this opportunity to talk about a few of
the problems that face the world today, particularly their effect on
developing countries like Malaysia.

7. The concept of justice and fairplay has changed considerably. The most
important determinant of international behaviour now is strength--economic
strength, political strength and of course military strength. We see today
powerful countries actually applauding the hideous behaviour of countries
like Israel. We do not approve of international terrorism by individuals
or organisations, whatever the reasons. But for any rational
administration to approve of terrorism by the Governments of countries is
to desert completely international morality.

8. We see the economies of poor countries destroyed by the economic
policies of the rich and the powerful. We see the influential countries
exerting pressure on their client states to reject legitimate claims such
as that on Antarctica. And, of course, we see powerful nations physically
occupying neighbouring countries in order, they claim, to protect
themselves.

9. The weak has to meekly submit to all these because they have no
choice. Gunboat diplomacy is not dead. It has taken a more frightening
dimension. This is the world that small developing countries have to
struggle in, to survive. They can come together, to seek security in
numbers. But the cavalier fashion with which even the United Nations has
been dismissed by the rich and the powerful has proven the naivete of that
assumption.

10. Malaysia lives by trade. So too do most of the developing
countries. We can only produce primary products which we hope to trade for
the manufactured goods we need. But for the past few years the price of
primary products have plummeted. Nothing fetches a fair price
anymore. Indeed, frequently the prices are lower than the cost of
production. Why is this so? In the first place developed countries go into
competing primary products which they subsidise and produce in
excess. Then they fix the price through commodity exchanges in their
countries with membership confined to themselves. If their members look
like losing money, then they change the rules. They even start rumours in
order to influence prices. And the western press aids and abets them.

11. But not so the manufactured goods that they market in the poor
developing countries. There are no exchanges for manufactured goods. The
price is determined by the manufacturers themselves. And whether the raw
material prices go up or down, the price of manufactured goods always go
up. And so more and more commodities have to be sold by poor countries in
order to buy less and less manufactured goods.

12. Some developing countries try to industrialise and export their
products. But protectionism in the richest markets soon put paid to
that. Even when they try to go to other developing countries, they find
that they cannot compete against the credit terms and the political and
economic leverage exerted by the rich developed countries.

13. Much of the economic ills of the world today is man-made. And it is
not entirely made in the oil producing countries. It is the financial
mismanagement of the developed countries, their massive expenditure on
arms, their protectionist policies, their wasteful overproduction of
various commodities, their trading practices that has brought the world to
the present economic depression.

14. And as the economic problems are man-made, they will have to be unmade
by man. We know precisely how the economy of the world can be restored but
unless and until the economic giants of the world are willing to act,
nothing that the developing countries can do will be of any avail. The
price of oil is low now and so are the prices of every commodity. But
whatever good they may do is negated by the developed countries.

15. And now back to South Africa. There is no Government like the regime
in South Africa. It is a total pariah. It legalises the morally
illegal. Minority is majority. Slavery is freedom. Ghettos are
nations. Like Israel, they respect no international norms. Boundaries are
not sacred to the racists of South Africa.

16. And this white racist regime survives in this day and age. And why
does it survive? It survives because the people who are fond of
criticising alleged racism in developing countries are not prepared to do
anything about the most blatantly racist regime in the world.

17. Malaysia does not trade with South Africa. We deprive ourselves of
substantial revenue by so doing. But those whose application of sanctions
are likely to bring South Africa to its knees, have any number of
arguments why they should not apply sanctions. Restrictions on imports
from poor countries, restrictions which cause real human sufferings in
these small states are alright. But not sanctions against South
Africa. The blacks would suffer.

That is the excuse.

18. The fact is that the blacks are already suffering. Cures are always
painful. As a doctor I should know. But to perpetuate sufferings is a poor
alternative to the temporary pain of a cure. If sanctions can help destroy
a despicable policy like apartheid, then sanctions must be applied and
they must be applied by those who can hurt most; by the countries with the
biggest economic clout. Failure to do so would mean hypocrisy on the part
of these countries. And that will rub off on the Commonwealth.

19. Finally, a word about Namibia. It is bad enough for a despicable
regime like that of South Africa to remain trustee of this unfortunate
country, but now the Namibians are being punished for an alleged crime
committed by another country. Why should Namibia remain subjugated simply
because Cuban troops are in Angola? 

20. These are some of the problems that face the world today. If the
Commonwealth conference is not going to be a respite for us from the
problems at home, it will have to do something about these problems. It
should at least agree on what could be done about South Africa. It should
help positively to restore the economy of the world. It should attempt to
remove all kinds of racial and colour discriminations.

21. If the Commonwealth refuses to do something definite, then the club
should cease to pretend. It should admit that it really cannot contribute
towards solving the problems faced by its members, if not the world. Then
we can relax and enjoy our get together.