Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : THE SHANGRI-LA HOTEL, KUALA LUMPUR
Tarikh/Date : 01/03/88
Tajuk/Title : THE SECOND MEETING OF THE
SOUTH COMMISSION
Your Excellency Mwalimu Julius Nyerere;
Distinguished Commissioners;
Excellencies;
Ladies and Gentlemen.
On behalf of the Government and people of Malaysia I
would like to warmly welcome Mwalimu and all the
distinguished Commissioners of the South Commission to
Kuala Lumpur. I am very pleased that Kuala Lumpur has been
chosen as the venue for your second meeting. I hope that
despite your busy schedule, you and your gracious ladies
will have the opportunity to see our country and meet with
our people.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
2. Malaysia feels highly privileged and greatly honoured
at being able to play host to this Second Meeting of the
South Commission. The honour is further enhanced by the
fact that this is the first time that the South Commission
is holding a meeting in a country of the South since its
inception in Geneva last July.
3. Malaysia has other reasons to feel honoured. Two years
ago, during the South-South II Conference which was held
here in Kuala Lumpur, in this very building, the idea and
proposal to establish the South Commission was broached and
conceived. The proposal was seriously developed and it
gained momentum when the Eighth Summit of the Non-Aligned
Movement endorsed the proposal to establish an Independent
Commission of the South and applauded the acceptance of our
esteemed colleague, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, to become its
Chairman. Hence the South Commission was born. In hosting
this meeting, Malaysia must be excused for feeling slightly
proprietary and gratified with the close identification of
the South Commission with Malaysia.
4. In welcoming the distinguished Commissioners, I would
like to take this opportunity to express my utmost
appreciation and respect for their laudable readiness to
serve on this Commission. As we are fully aware, the
distinguished Commissioners are prominent personalities
shouldering heavy responsibilities in their respective
countries, while some are already serving the international
community directly. Needless to say, the commitment to serve
as a member of the South Commission imposes an additional
responsibility on each and everyone of them in the noble
endeavour to advance the cause of cooperation among the
countries of the South. I have every confidence that the
exceptional qualities and the invaluable experience that
they bring with them will stand the Commission in good
stead.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
5. The Commission is set up to study and propose practical
solutions to the multifarious economic maladies confronting
the countries of the South. This is by no means a simple
task. For decades the countries of the South have been
struggling to look for ways and means that would help them
to eliminate the inequities and impediments which exist in
the world economy. We have rallied together in our effort
to redress the imbalance in the world's economic pattern
through our call for the New International Economic Order.
While it did initially stir some interest in the
international community and secured a faint response from
some countries of the North, nothing concrete has been
achieved. And today, fifteen years after the call for the
New International Economic Order was made, we continue to
find ourselves enmeshed inextricably in external debts,
frustrated by extensive and growing protectionism,
bedevilled by fluctuations of commodity prices in favour of
the developed countries of the North, and tossed about by
volatile interest and exchange rates.
6. Against the backdrop of a devastating economic
recession, a future which holds no prospect for improvement
and against negative responses to the call for a New
International Economic Order, the countries of the South
began to look at each other, in search of potential
complimentarities in our own economies. This awareness
motivated the spirit for closer cooperation among countries
of the South. Hence we met in Mexico City nearly twelve
years ago to chart the first programme for economic
cooperation among the developing countries. The scope for
South-South Cooperation and its implementation mechanism was
further expanded and refined through the adoption of the
Arusha Plan of Action for collective self-reliance.
7. Countries of the South were becoming more convinced of
the need for closer cooperation among developing countries
as a means of achieving economic and social advancement in
addition to promoting a healthy and more equitable economic
interaction with the advanced countries of the North.
Efforts for further collaboration were further explored and
intensified. Strongly committed to the ideal of South-South
Cooperation, we congregated again in Caracas. The scope for
South-South Cooperation was reviewed, expanded and
fine-tuned to cover all major areas of fundamental economic
cooperation.
8. It is manifestly clear that for decades the countries
of the South have seriously searched for some workable
solutions. Nobody could accuse us of being idle and leaving
the future of our nations passively to fate. We have
broached the concept of cooperation among the South when our
attempt for North-South Cooperation met responses too far
short of our expectations. However, while everyone is agreed
on the need, progress from that understanding to the taking
of positive action has been much too slow. The setting up of
the South Commission has taken us a while. Should the
Commission fulfil its task, and I have no doubt that it
will, the action that has to be taken to implement any
recommendation is going to be even more time consuming and
frust rating. We must therefore be prepared to soldier on
and to overcome repeated failures and disappointments. The
fact is that the obstacles are not going to be just the
political will of the countries of the South. We are up
against the traditional patterns of economy set by history.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
9. The South Commission has come into being at a most
crucial time in the struggle of the developing countries for
economic development and progress. It is established at a
time when the search for solutions in our negotiations with
the developed economies of the North has practically
grounded to a halt. It is established at a time when
multilateralism is severely under attack and protectionism
is rampant. It is established at a time when indebtedness
of developing countries is paralysing their economies. In
short, it is established at a time when developing countries
of the South are faced with massive economic problems which
threaten to nullify their independence, gained by some only
recently at tremendous sacrifices.
10. The establishment of the South Commission in itself is
not meant to replace the efforts being undertaken by the
countries of the South individually or groups to ameliorate
their economic position. The attack against the problem
must be multipronged. But the South Commission must
constitute a major assault strategy which must receive the
positive support of everyone.
11. Although the task to be undertaken by the Commission is
a daunting one, it should feel encouraged and inspired by
the full backing and support which it has received from all
the countries of the South. If we fail then we are going to
suffer a severe setback, for it is unlikely that another
concerted approach can be attempted for a very long, long
time.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
12. Permit me at this juncture to unburden myself of some
thoughts which the Commission might find useful. We have in
the South many success stories and failures. These are
usually more relevant than most analysis on how the
developed countries achieved their present level of
development. It would be very worthwhile for members of the
Commission to be fully briefed by independents on the
results of the many different policies and approaches
adopted by the countries of the South since the end of World
War II for example. In this exercise, we have to be
absolutely honest with ourselves.
13. Obviously some ideas or approaches can be implemented
earlier than others. The longer we wait, the more complex
and difficult the situation will be. Perhaps it would be
worthwhile if the Commission can indicate certain measures
which can be implemented even before the Commission's work
is over. Perhaps, the solutions or approaches may seem
imperfect, but it is worthwhile to remember that there are
no perfect solutions. All approaches will yield good and
bad results. What is significant is the balance between the
two. An imperfect solution implemented is better than the
perfect solution unimplemented.
14. The idea of setting up in the South institutions of
higher learning is one approach which can be implemented
early. We already have numerous institutions in place in
the developing countries. Indeed, they are already being
utilised by many of us. What is needed is to identify
suitable institutions which could then immediately take in
students from the South. There is bound to be tremendous
savings as the cost of education in developing countries is
usually much lower than in developed countries.
Additionally the foreign exchange will stay in the South.
15. Mwalimu once maintained that ignorance about each other
is one of the factors that impedes a closer and more dynamic
cooperation among countries of the South. I agree entirely
with him. We should therefore establish as many lines of
communication as we can between developing countries. The
news agencies of countries of the South should be linked to
each other. Our newspapers, radios and television should
give priority and place for news emanating from national
sources or from agencies of the South. Reporting should be
fair and should avoid sensationalism. International news
should not be monopolised by the three or four dominant news
agencies of the West. We should balance them against those
of our agencies and leave it to the readers to judge.
16. Apart from the news agencies, centres should be set-up
in strategic parts of the world to collect and disseminate
news of economic importance to the South. Contracts and
demands for supplies of commodities and manufactured goods
must be readily available from these centres. So must the
national policies, laws and procedures required by countries
and Governments in the South.
17. The countries of the South being the primary intended
beneficiaries of the work of the Commission, should be aware
that the responsibility for the success and effective
implementation of the findings of the Commission rests with
ourselves. However, this must not be taken to mean that the
South Commission should be perceived as autarchic or as a
substitute for North-South economic relations. Rather, it
should be considered as a complementary effort and strategy
which would benefit the entire system of international
economic relations.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
18. I cannot but stress that the work of the South
Commission deserves the full support of the entire
international community, particularly in this period of
economic crisis which requires commitment and imagination to
transform serious challenges into opportunities for
development. The international community, in giving their
support to the work of the Commission should therefore
return to the spirit of the 60s and early 70s which
witnessed considerable practical support for efforts at
economic integration and cooperation among developing
countries.
19. In this respect, I fervently hope that the formation of
the South Commission would make a valuable contribution
towards the revitalization of North-South Cooperation by
recommending a practical and meaningful agenda for
negotiation. Such an approach, I believe, should strike a
responsive chord among the developed countries of the North
whose understanding and support would be essential.
20. The South Commission is essentially an exercise in
self-help. It is not too much an exaggeration to say that
the eyes of the world, in both North and South, are upon the
Commission. Let us demonstrate through the effective and
successful implementation of the findings of the Commission
that the countries of the South are capable of looking after
themselves.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
21. I now have great pleasure in declaring open the Second
Meeting of the South Commission and wish our esteemed
Commissioners every success in their deliberations.
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