home Speechs in the year 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 --> |
Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD Tempat/Venue : SINGAPORE Tarikh/Date : 27/01/92 Tajuk/Title : THE FOURTH MEETING OF THE ASEAN HEADS OF GOVERNMENT Mr Chairman; Your Majesty; Your Excellencies; Ladies and Gentlemen, Let me say how happy I am to be at this gathering of friendly neighbours. My congratulations and thanks to you, Mr. Chairman, and to the Government and the people of the Republic of Singapore for hosting this Fourth Meeting of the ASEAN Heads of Government. I join my distinguished col- leagues in extending to the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, His Excellency Mr. Rabbie Namaliu, a warm welcome to our Meeting. 2. This Meeting is timely because ASEAN needs to consider appropriate responses to the profound changes that have taken place in the world since the last ASEAN Summit in Ma- nila in 1987. The final disposition of the new global poli- tical and economic order is uncertain but we must ready ourselves for all the possible mutations of this order. In South East Asia itself changes will take place, and the form of cooperation which will result must be such as to strengthen our region and keep it continuously dynamic. 3. With the Cambodian problem on the way to resolution ASEAN must now transform the adversarial stance which characterised South East Asia in the past into new construc- tive relationships. It is not an accident that the South East Asian countries of the ASEAN group are among the most dynamic in the world. We have demonstrated that peaceful neighbourliness and cooperation and a willingness to help each other can contribute greatly towards rapid development. It is therefore equally likely that if all the nations of South East Asia were to adopt this approach to neighbourly relations and economic development, then all will be equally prosperous. A prosperous region will command respect and influence. 4. ASEAN must therefore take the initiative to reorganise its relations with the Indochinese countries. We can begin by establishing close and positive relations with them both bilaterally and as a group. Should they wish to do so we should welcome them as members of the ASEAN Group subscrib- ing to our Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. We should pro- mote and foster the concept of a Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality as well as a Nuclear Free Zone. I hope that the greatest military power with the most efficient intelligence agency is wrong when it predicts the possibility of a "Gulf War" in East Asia which can only be deterred by its military presence. By now all the nations of East Asia should have learnt of the futility of wars of conquest of the Gulf vari- ety. They should have found that economic development and trade with neighbours highly beneficial. 5. Poor neighbours are no asset to anyone. The problems of the poor are likely to spill over in the form of refu- gees, smuggling, black markets, etc. Poor countries are not good trading partners. Helping neighbours to become pros- perous is therefore mutually beneficial. If ASEAN wishes to be stable and prosperous then it must help its neighbours to attain prosperity. Above all it must eschew confrontation. 6. While we should not let our different political systems stand in the way of mutual cooperation, we cannot of course support oppressive regimes which are not concerned with the well-being of their own nationals. Without interfering in the internal affairs of independent nations we must still strive to ensure acceptable standards of good Government. It is the height of arrogance to claim that only a partic- ular system is right and just. It is equally arrogant to claim that there is only one system of Government which is right and just. The fact is that even democracy can bring misery to a lot of people. This we see in the violence and deaths during elections and the frequent riotings and strikes which reduce the productivity of nations and perpet- uate poverty. 7. We see today a democratically elected Government sys- tematically depriving its legitimate citizens of political rights, dispossessing them, terrorising and killing them and generally behaving like a rogue but being supported by other democracies simply because it is defined as democratic. The empty shelves and the hunger we see in the new democracies of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Eastern Europe are yet another evidence of the imperfections of de- mocracy. We must not miss the forest for the trees. Democ- racy is not the universal cure it is made out to be. To succeed there must be circumspection in the application of the democratic process. No one should be forced or hurried into a system that they are unfamiliar with. Your Majesty, Your Excellencies, 8. On the international front, the creation of powerful economic groupings to advance regional interests have become a reality of the international economic life. International trade and other economic relations are increasingly being managed to protect the positions of the powerful trade blocs. 9. In a world where peoples and countries are organising themselves regionally, it should not be so wrong for East Asian countries to come together. East Asia is a geograph- ical entity, as much as Europe or America are geographical entities. Indeed so is South East Asia. 10. If South East Asia can form an association in order to derive mutual benefit and still remain compatible with being members of the Asia Pacific organisations, is there any rea- son why the East Asian countries cannot form a mere caucus and coexist with other organisations in the Asia Pacific re- gion? 11. The ASEAN experience has shown that when countries in a region consult and cooperate and speak with one voice, their status and influence are enhanced. Other countries and groups would certainly not have dialogues regularly with each and everyone of us separately. But as a group they will and they do. And in the process we have gained and have consequently developed much faster than other individ- ual countries of the region. 12. The East Asia Economic Caucus (EAEC) will not be any kind of trade or economic bloc but a Caucus, an informal getting together of nations in East Asia for the purpose of consultation and to seek consensus so as to speak with one voice at international trade conferences. And that is all. We do not understand why we are not allowed to speak with each other or even to call ourselves East Asians. Is this a foretaste of the new world order? 13. We need a strong ASEAN base to be better able to face new uncertainties in the wider Asia-Pacific environment as well as a rapidly changing world. When the Cold War was on, we all yearned to be free from this oppressive conflict and the proxy fights and divisions it spins off. We in the ASEAN region have a right to be more free now since it is our side which won. But it would seem that we are now less free. The evolving new world order is full of restrictions. Your Majesty, Your Excellencies, 14. An issue of equal importance to all countries and re- quiring global cooperation concerns the management of the environment. Unfortunately there is undue focus on the tropical forest and its role in renewing the supply of oxy- gen, the preservation of flora and fauna and the ecological balance. 15. The fact is that the rich 20 percent of the global pop- ulation accounts for 80 percent of the greenhouse gas emis- sions. Thirty percent of carbon dioxide emissions come from one industrial power alone. On the other hand in the devel- oping world, 1.5 billion people live in abject poverty. Their fate is ignored when what is often their principal source of income, the tropical forest products, are boy- cotted. 16. If forests can save the world from the greenhouse ef- fect, then the stress should be on a massive regreening of the world. It must be remembered that at one time the world was almost completely covered by forests. The natural changes as well as the changes brought about by men de- stroyed most of this forest cover. With the wealth of the rich and the technology at their command it is entirely pos- sible to plant and cover even desert areas with trees, in- cluding tropical hardwood timber. Controlled logging can go on but in a hundred years there will be three times the present tropical timberland. 17. One issue, totally ignored, is the fact that forest fires cause greater damage to the environment than con- trolled logging. Developing countries do not have the fi- nancial and technological capability to effectively handle forest fires which can rage for weeks and months. Cer- tainly, more forests can be saved by preventing forest fires or putting them out quickly than by boycotting the export of tropical timber or advocating that forest dwellers remain in the forest, eating monkeys and suffering from all kinds of tropical diseases. 18. It is claimed that tropical forests are a common herit- age of the world. We dispute this, for we have a better claim to our forests than those who claim to own Antarctica. But if the world is so concerned about depleting tropical forest and think they have a right to it then they should do something about forest fires in the tropics. Massive and valuable equipment are available all over the rich countries of the North. Most of them would be under-utilised when there are no fires. It would be a simple matter for an international organisation to be set up to catalogue all these resources and deploy them to the poor tropical coun- tries whenever there is a forest fire. This is much more constructive than dramatising the acreage of tropical forest destroyed per day or how 300 Penans are being deprived of their million hectares of hunting ground. Your Majesty, Your Excellencies, 19. While we dispute the claim that our forests belong to the whole world, we have always accepted that certain straits and sea-routes through our waters are international waterways. The best-known of these international waterways is the Straits of Malacca. 20. It was of little concern to the littoral states when the ships passing through the Straits were small and infre- quent and carry no significantly dangerous cargo. But now not only have the numbers multiplied many times, but their sizes have increased tremendously. In addition the cargo they carry is often dangerous; as for example the oil and chemical tankers. 21. Already we have had collisions and the spillage of oil onto the sea and on our shore. Not only is cleaning up costly but damage to our fishing industry and our tourist industy is considerable. It takes months for fishing to be lucrative again. 22. Now we have a new problem -- piracy. The pirates are not after the cargo but the cash and valuables belonging to the crew. In the dark of the night they clamber on to the ship and tie up the crew while they pillage and rob. And when they leave, the crew members remain tied. For hours the ship will sail unguided. It may deviate from its course and it may collide with another vessel or run aground, caus- ing all kinds of damage. 23. Whose responsibility is it to keep these international sea-lanes safe? The littoral states collect no dues. Nor are they rich. On the other hand, maritime patrols by sea and by air are expensive. The maintenance of equipment and personnel to fight spillage and other damages are equally costly. 24. If the world is fond of claiming rights then the world must also accept responsibility. It is time that the inter- national community appreciate the problems and the dangers faced by littoral states. Is it too much to ask that those who use the passage and the maritime nations contribute to- wards the cost of keeping them free and safe? Your Majesty, Your Excellencies, 25. ASEAN is without doubt the most successful of the re- gional groupings of developing countries. We came together initially because we had to have a forum to resolve border problems in the post-colonial period. We have not resolved all of these problems but at least we agree that the ASEAN way is that of consultation and negotiation. 26. Having come together we felt it could be beneficial to cooperate economically as well. Again, with our competing economies we have not been very successful. Still we must soldier on. 27. But in the meantime the world has changed radically. I shall not repeat here what these changes are. What is cer- tain however is that we will be affected by the fallout. We can survive, I think. We can even prosper as a result of these changes. But it is up to us to design our response if we want to come out of these changes stronger and more pros- perous. It will require all our ingenuity to do this. ASEAN must emerge from the restructuring of the world, freer and more resilient and better developed than ever. 28. Finally, Mr. Chairman, I wish to thank you, the Govern- ment and the people of Singapore for the warm welcome and generous hospitality extended to me and the members of my delegation. I am confident that, under your able chairman- ship, this Fourth ASEAN Summit Meeting will be a resounding success. |