Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : SHANGRI-LA HOTEL, KUALA LUMPUR
Tarikh/Date : 01/08/91
Tajuk/Title : THE OPENING OF THE SECOND
CONFERENCE OF ASEAN MINISTERS
RESPONSIBLE FOR INFORMATION
Your Excellencies,
ASEAN Ministers responsible for Information;
Distinguished Delegates;
Honoured Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is indeed a pleasure and privilege for me to address
this distinguished gathering of the ASEAN Ministers respon-
sible for Information. I am delighted to be present here
this morning, especially to meet with leaders of the commu-
nication and information sector of ASEAN, and to officially
open the Second Conference of ASEAN Ministers responsible
for Information.
2. Events appear to be moving very fast these days in all
parts of the world -- in Eastern Europe, in the Americas, in
Africa and in Asia and, of course, in our own neighbourhood.
These events will invariably affect the course of history --
for better or for worse. With the advances in all fields of
communication the world has now become a global village and
consequently thoughts or words or deeds reach the ears and
even the eyes of everyone as frequently as they happen. We
were able to sit in our houses and watch modern warfare be-
ing conducted on a real time basis. And countries can no
longer shield their people from the happenings in other
parts of the world. One of the most astounding results was
the exposure of the failure of the communist ideology which
led to it being abandoned in Russia and Eastern Europe.
3. There can be no doubt that the advances in communi-
cation technology have been largely beneficial to the human
race. Their scope of awareness of the world they live in
has been vastly enlarged. Far away places with strange
sounding names seem no longer far or strange. Knowledge
which had taken a whole lifetime to acquire in the past can
now be learnt in an hour. There is a great deal more trans-
parency in the affairs of man and of nations. Distance no
longer separate, for the pressing of a few buttons will
bring people within talking distance of each other.
4. Along with all these advances there is an explosion in
the media industry, particularly the electronic media. The
volume of information that is disseminated cannot be coped
by any individual or society or nation. There are far too
much news that are fit to print or to broadcast. Accord-
ingly news must be chopped into digestible bits, inter-
preted, vetted, censored, analysed, and underlined by people
in the information business, whether Governmental or non-
Governmental.
5. What these people are doing are no doubt essential.
Without proper presentation, news would be confusing and in-
digestible. Some people must therefore condense and vet
what the people should read and what they should not. And
these people, whether they be from the Government or from
the non-Government organisations, must acquire a consider-
able degree of power. And power, they say, corrupts.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
6. Freedom of the press is now accepted as an essential
part of democracy. Quite rightly the dissemination of news
by the press should not be suppressed. Governments have
been able to subjugate their people by denying news. To al-
low Governments to control the press is synonymous with
totalitarian rule. Any Government which interferes with the
dissemination of news must therefore be regarded as undemo-
cratic, a heretic in a world that now unanimously accepts
democracy as an article of faith.
7. Knowing how powerful is the influence of information on
the mind and action of people, and knowing also that it is
impossible to distribute all the news as they happen and
equally impossible for people to absorb all the news that is
distributed, it is inevitable that the people involved in
the information industry should select some happenings to
report and to exclude the others.
8. In addition, it has now been accepted that the presen-
tation of the news is also the right of those in the non-
Governmental information industry. Now we know that the
narration of history by different people and different coun-
tries differ greatly. In history it is always the other
country which is wrong. One's own country is always right.
And so whole generations grow up to hate and despise certain
countries because of what their history books narrate. The
same can happen in daily reporting by the press. A dis-
torted view of events can always be spread because the peo-
ple in the press, like the national historians, have certain
views.
9. But, of late, it has even been accepted that lies can
be fabricated in the name of freedom of the press. With the
increasingly powerful weapons at the disposal of the press,
it is entirely possible for the press not only to create
totally erroneous views and opinions, but actually to under-
mine the stability and even the economy of countries. And
events have shown that the guardians and practitioners of
press freedom are not averse to using this unlimited li-
cense. New and more telling ways are continuously being in-
vented so that lies can be accepted as the truth.
10. During the last World War, Dr. Goebbels of Nazi Germany
perfected the art of the half-truth as a means to consol-
idate the support of the German people, first for the Nazi
Party and then for the territorial ambition of Germany. To-
day, we wonder how the highly cultured and humane Germans
could perpetrate the horrors of Belsen and Auschwitz,
gassing and killing Jews and then glorying in their brutal-
ity. The answer lies in the effectiveness of Dr. Goebbels
propaganda machine. Even the most gentle Germans can be
made into a beast if fed the kind of selected information
that was cooked up by Dr. Goebbels propaganda machine.
11. We do not have a Dr. Goebbels anywhere now. But when
the world community accepts that press freedom confers the
right to fabricate and tell lies, then we are condoning at
least a part of the practices of Dr. Goebbels. The result
may not be the brutes who terrorised Nazi Germany but cer-
tainly there would be people sufficiently prejudiced as not
to be able to see anything right about others.
12. Another effect of a shrinking world and instant news is
the evolution of a world press. Language is a very impor-
tant factor in the world press. Obviously a newspaper cir-
culated worldwide, say in the Mongolian language, if the
Mongolian people have the kind of money to do this, is not
going to have much impact on public opinion in the world.
To be effective, the language must be one that is understood
by the most number of people in the world. And the language
is English, the national tongue of some of the most populous
and richest countries in the world. It is not surprising
therefore that the English speaking nations largely control
the world press. The non-English speaking nations which are
also poor cannot have access to the world press to give
their views or versions of whatever news are reported about
them.
13. As a consequence, the poor non-English speaking nations
feel naked and defenceless. If freedom of the press is to
be meaningful, then everyone should be able to present his
side of the story. What we are seeing is a one-sided exer-
cise of that freedom. Those who have no access to the world
press have no freedom.
14. We talk so much about human-rights, justice and fair-
play, etc. The question that must be asked is whether there
is justice and fair-play when only certain people can influ-
ence the minds of the world community, and whether human
rights is not denied when whole nations are deprived of
their right of expression and their freedom to air their
views. Does press freedom refer only to the freedom of
those who control the press in a country and not to the
freedom of the people to air their views in the press? Does
freedom of the press exist when only certain nations can air
their versions of the truth and others may not?
15. Some years ago there was an attempt by poor countries
to reform the international information order. Normally
there is sympathy for the poor, but there was no sympathy
shown to the poor nations' attempt to gain access to the
international media and to fair reporting. One of the big-
gest United Nations Agencies was threatened with a cut-off
in its finances if it entertains the pleas of the poor na-
tions. And so with unseemly haste the new information order
was jettisoned. The right to fabricate, to tell lies and to
do selective and slanted reporting about poor nations re-
mains.
Ladies and gentlemen,
16. The ASEAN countries are a group of developing nations
anxious to make as rapid a progress as possible towards a
developed stage. Although by comparison the ASEAN countries
have done quite well, as developing countries they have all
the weaknesses associated with such a status. To develop
they will need as little hindrance as possible.
17. One of the most important preconditions for them is
political stability. This precondition can only be achieved
if the people are well-informed, responsible, and aware of
the results of their own action.
18. Democracy confers on the people rights and freedom of
action. But rights and freedom are not free-standing enti-
ties. They must be accompanied by a sense of responsibil-
ity.
19. For a democracy to succeed the people must therefore be
appreciative not only of their rights but also their respon-
sibilities. This can only come about through a process of
formal and informal education regarding democracy, which we
all know is an alien concept.
20. It is in the area of informal education that informa-
tion ministries, agencies and departments of Governments
have to play a big role. It is the duty of Government to
give some guidance without converting a democracy into a
guided democracy. The line between merely guiding and being
a guided democracy is difficult to draw. Too little guid-
ance may result in irresponsibility, too much may negate de-
mocracy.
21. Yet the people must know that it is in their interest
to be responsible in the exercise of democratic freedom.
They must know that there is no monopoly by anyone in the
definition and exercise of democracy. They must know that
democracy is meant to serve the people. The exercise of
democratic rights to the point where the people continuously
suffer instability, insecurity and low or negative economic
growth would seem to negate the objectives of being demo-
cratic. Yet, in most instances, it is not democracy which
is at fault but the failure to understand it or worse still,
the manipulation of democracy by self-serving people.
22. People who understand the way democracy works and its
limitations will be able to derive the maximum benefit from
the system. The mindless acceptance of someone else's in-
terpretation of democracy and an unquestioning submission to
certain practices, as for example the right to fabricate and
tell lies, will undermine not only the fledgling democracies
but the democratic system as well. This, the countries of
ASEAN can ill-afford.
23. Governments have a duty not only to protect democracy
and freedom, but also to bring about social and economic
well-being for the citizens. While Governments should not
suppress the truth; while there should be press freedom and
a free flow of information, Governments would be failing in
their duty if they allow abuse of press freedom to the ex-
tent that lies can be spread and the stability and economic
well-being of the people undermined.
Ladies and gentlemen,
24. The ASEAN Ministers responsible for Information face a
daunting task. They have to be responsible for both the
free flow of information as well as ensure the stability of
their countries. There will be many occasions when the two
seem incompatible, when their responsibility for the devel-
opment of their countries seem to run counter to their faith
in the freedom of democracy. It is not easy for example to
ban a newspaper or expel a journalist. You don't do such
things without getting a bashing from the Fourth Estate and
those who consider themselves holier than us.
25. Tolerance must therefore be stretched to the maximum.
But no tolerance is necessary when there is evidence of de-
liberate lies which undermine the nation.
26. Your meeting will enable you to exchange experiences
and discuss how best the media can be used for the good of
your respective countries. It is hoped that the ASEAN
Ministers responsible for Information will be able to coop-
erate well. It is important to remember that instability of
one ASEAN country will affect the stability of the others
and the region.
27. I hope you will have a good meeting. I now have much
pleasure to declare open the Second Conference of ASEAN
Ministers responsible for Information.
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