Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : DEWAN TUN HUSSEIN ONN PUTRA WORLD
TRADE CENTRE, KUALA LUMPUR
Tarikh/Date : 19/04/87
Tajuk/Title : THE FIFTH SESSION OF THE
INTERACTION COUNCIL
Yang Amat Berbahagia Tun Hussein Onn,
Chairman of ISIS;
His Excellency Mr. Helmut Schmidt,
Chairman of the InterAction Council;
His Excellency Mr. Takeo Fukuda,
Honourary Chairman of the InterAction
Council;
Your Excellencies;
Ladies and Gentlemen.
It is a distinct honour and a privilege for me to
address this distinguished group of eminent international
leaders and world statesmen. We have never had this rare
occasion to host so many prominent personages in our country
before. On behalf of the Government and people of Malaysia
may I wish Your Excellencies "Selamat Datang" and a pleasant
and productive stay in our country.
Your Excellencies,
2. Everyone of you has the reputation for dedication,
courage and breadth of vision; accomplishments which have
not only benefitted your respective countries but also the
world at large. Each of you has also held high offices,
having been at the helm of your respective ship of state
steering it through tortuous courses, in fair as well as
foul weather. You have experienced the heavy responsibility
of power and the agonising decisions-making that determined
the fortunes of your respective country. Added to this are
the external implications of your actions as no country is
an island, particularly in this rapidly shrinking planet.
3. Decisions in the national interest in these days cannot
help but affect neighbours, regions and the world. This is
especially so with powerful nations. It is important and
imperative that there be greater accountability not just to
the nation but to the world. World leaders are now truly
world leaders, not just leaders known to the whole world.
International fame must carry with it international
responsibility as well. That responsibility cannot just
cease because one is out of office. The world should
continue to benefit from the experience and knowldege that
you have accumulated while in office. I believe that it is
because you do feel responsible that you have founded the
InterAction Council of world leaders. In a world gone
slightly unbalanced your wise counsels are much needed.
Your Excellencies,
4. You meet today in an atmosphere that is highly charged.
Trade imbalances have led to tension and threats among the
rich nations of the North. Currency has become totally
destabilised. Commodity prices have collapsed. Nations are
incapable of paying their debts. The East-West
confrontation and the arms race continues and absorbs much
needed funds for totally useless unproductive activities.
The wars in the Middle East show no sign of abating.
Religious and racial tensions have grown, fanned by fanatics
and racists. Proxy wars are being fought in Central America
and Central Asia. In the Sahel belt of Africa starvation
and death stare in the eyes of millions. And to top it all
drug habits have destroyed much of the flower of our youths,
bringing crime and disaster to people who are already
impoverished.
5. It is with this as a backdrop that you meet here in
Kuala Lumpur. The theme you have chosen, "International
cooperation in the areas of population growth, environment
and development," is thus most appropriate and relevant.
The considerable influence that you still wield, would, we
hope, lend meaning to your deliberations.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
6. Within the space of some twelve years from now history
will record the flow of time into not only a new century but
also a new millennium. Rightly we should be moving into the
twenty-first century with a sense of pride and
accomplishment considering the tremendous strides that
mankind has achieved in the twentieth century. We have
seen the world undergo a massive transformation particularly
in technological terms. The scientific achievements that
have come about are particularly astounding in the fields of
communication, transportation, medicine and space. Many of
us today fly around the world in a 747 without so much as
a minute's reflection upon the fact that the whole aircraft
is about twice as long as the distance the Wright brothers
were airborne on their maiden flight only eighty years ago.
7. In our enthusiasm for the good life made possible by
science and technolgy, we often forget about the miseries
which accompany this so-called progress. There is a price
to be paid for all these progress. Far too often it is the
poor who have to pay. Thus the miracle of laser and fibre
optics have forced the closure of copper mines with the
accompanying unemployment of workers in developing
countries. Pollution from chemical wastes have blighted the
lives of many, of which Bhopal is just one poignant
example. Advances in the technology of food production
should reduce starvation. They do, but they also
impoverish the farmers of developing countries by the
resulting gluts and drops in prices.
8. The art of war has become the science and technology of
war. As new weapons and counter-weapons are invented the
meagre treasuries of poor countries are emptied in an
attempt to acquire expensive defence systems. Even as a
country buys a new weapon it is told that it will be
obsolete as an improved version or a counter-weapon would be
in the market in a year or two.
9. Science has saved many lives but one wonders what are
these lives being saved for. Even as one wonders, the
population keeps growing. We are told by Malthus that if we
don't control population growth, we will outgrow our food
supplies. Is this true? Not for the present at least. We
now have more food than we can consume. But such is the
economic system we have created, that those who most need
the food are unable to pay for it. And they are unable to
pay because those who can afford have destroyed their means
of earning sufficiently to buy the food. The fall in
commodity prices, restrictive trade practices by the rich,
unfair competition by the technologically advanced, control
of the means of transport, the sponge-like soaking of
investment capital by the rich and a host of other factors
have all combined to make the poor even poorer.
10. And so the lives that science saves and the consequent
growth of population have merely compounded the problems
that plague our planet. Telling people not to multiply is
not the answer when the problem is in the economic injustice
of a system that favours the rich and the powerful.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
11. The poor in this world have as much desire to breathe
fresh unpolluted air as anyone else. They do want to live
in an environment that is naturally clean and beautiful.
Bhopal and Chernobyl horrifies them. But the problem is
affordability.
12. If they cut down trees for firewood it is because they
cannot afford other fuels. If they tear down their ancient
forests it is because they need the money from the timber
they sell. If they treat their country like a huge rubbish
dump it is because they cannot afford expensive waste
treatment and disposal.
13. It is right to want to preserve the pristine beauty of
nature. But if the only way for the poor countries to earn
money is to export logs at very low prices, can they be
blamed for tearing down their forests? Pay good money for
their timber and set up factories in their country to add
value -- these will obviate the neccessity for them to
decimate their beautiful forests. Boycotting the use of
timber and turning to substitutes like plastic will only
impoverish them and force them to chop down more trees to
maintain what little they have been earning.
14. In Malaysia we are concerned about the environment too.
But environment costs. There will be no pollution from palm
oil factories if the factories can afford to pay for
pollution-control equipments. But when palm oil prices are
forced down by subsidised production of competing oils,
environment and pollution become secondary to the more
pressing needs of earning minimal profits.
15. Actually for most developing countries the problem of
environment is academic. More important is development.
Aid is important. Soft loans are welcome. But it is
important not to take away with one hand what the other
hand gives. Development aid will not help if the resultant
development is negated by restrictive trade practices.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
16. No country wants to live on aid forever. Every country
wants to earn money for itself. This it can do only if
there are no trade restrictions. The incentives offered by
developing countries for export manufacturing can only be
worthwhile if the developed countries open their markets.
17. The trade wars of the rich should not result in blanket
restrictions which affect developing countries.
Restrictions should be discriminating in favour of
developing countries. The rich should be allowed to avail
themselves of the favoured treatment of developing countries
if those countries themselves are unable to produce on their
own. What matters is that the developing countries are able
to reap some benefit which can contribute to their
development.
18. What we are seeing today is a near total disregard for
the poor. Seven rich countries meet and make decisions in
their favour without any regard for the rest of the world.
Thus to solve their trade imbalances they decided to revalue
the Yen and Deutschmark and undervalue the American dollar.
For Malaysia, for example, this decision has pushed up her
Yen loan by 70% while reducing her earnings from petroleum
exports. And very much the same thing has happended to
other developing countries.
19. This is what happens when the rich become inward
looking. Multilateralism is left battered, condemned to a
slow death through fund deprivation. And the poor pays the
price even as it gets poorer.
20. We have yet to learn to accept the fact that we are
interdependent. There are some who think that they can be
rich in the midst of poverty. History has taught us little.
It is almost as if someone is again saying, "if you have no
bread, why not eat cake instead."
21. Actually enriching the poor will enrich further the
rich. After all we cannot escape from being the market for
the rich. The more spending money we have the more things
will we buy from the rich.
Your Excellencies,
22. It is in this context that we see the role of the
Interaction Council. You may no longer be weilding power.
But you do have influence. You are the conscience of the
world. We welcome you here in Malaysia because we think the
world needs its conscience now more than ever.
23. The greatest achievement of the post-war years is the
liberation of so many colonial territories. How tragic it
would be if the good work done by far-sighted leaders of
those years are negated by a slide towards a new and no less
debilitating form of imperialism. We do not like to talk of
neo-colonialism. A lot of work has gone into discrediting
the word. But neo-colonialism does exist. The term is not
important but the fact is.
24. A few people, able and famous though they may be,
cannot resolve all the problems that beset our planet today.
But if you can manage to prick the conscience of the powers
that be, that would have done the world and the cause of the
poor nations in particular a great service indeed.
25. I am not a member of your organisation and I hope that
the next few days would not qualify me to be a member of
your organisation. Nevertheless, I would like to thank Your
Excellencies for this opportunity to share my thoughts with
you. I wish you every success in your deliberations and I
hope you have a pleasant stay in this country.
Thank you.
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