Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : HOTEL ISTANA, KUALA LUMPUR (K.L)
Tarikh/Date : 08/10/92
Tajuk/Title : THE FIRST ASEAN CONGRESS : "ASEAN
- THE NEXT GENERATION : OLD WISDOMS
AND NEW DIRECTIONS"
I am pleased and honoured to be given this opportunity
to deliver the keynote address for the First ASEAN Congress
and to say "Selamat Datang" to all participants.
2. As we meet here today to celebrate the 25th anniversary
of ASEAN, we are reminded of the momentous event of 8th Au-
gust 1967 in Bangkok when the Foreign Ministers of five
Southeast-Asian countries - Tun Razak of Malaysia, Adam
Malek of Indonesia, Narciso Ramos of the Philippines,
Rajaratnam of Singapore and Thanat Khoman of Thailand -
signed the historic declaration to establish the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations. It was an act of conviction,
reconciliation and ambition. I am glad to see among us to-
day two of those distinguished leaders, Tun Thanat Khoman
and Mr. Rajaratnam who launched the new enterprise, called
ASEAN, and the scions of three others who similarly per-
formed the historic task in 1967.
3. Southeast Asia had been a region in turmoil. We had
had separate paths of historical development and we were at
different stages of economic development. Only one of us
had escaped the tyranny of imperialism. The other four had
three different colonial masters. We had achieved our inde-
pendence at different times and in different circumstances.
But because of our different colonial backgrounds, even as
free nations we each went our separate ways.
4. We did not have the slightest shred of neighbourliness
as Southeast Asian nations then. Our eyes were focussed
elsewhere. We had little desire to even know each other
better. Worse still, many of us had exchanged not only
harsh words but also hard bullets. Amongst us there had not
only been cold war and cold peace but also a hot confronta-
tion.
5. "ASA", an "Association of Southeast Asia", involving
three of us, had been tried. It had failed, wrecked on the
rocks of mutual suspicion, enmity and indifference.
"Maphilindo" had been tried. It was stillborn, suffocated
by the same mutual suspicion, enmity and indifference.
6. It was out of this crucible of conflict, indifference,
even contempt, that there arose the conviction that it was
time to get to know each other better. It was out of this
realisation that the leaders of Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore and Thailand made the crucial deci-
sion to undertake a historical act of regional reconcil-
iation. A decision was made to turn a region in turmoil
into an oasis of tranquility, peace and security; to trans-
form a region of strangers into a society of friends; to
turn a region of poverty and under-development into a dy-
namic zone of prosperity and cooperation; and to take a re-
gion of cold peace and cold war and transform it into a
community of warm, comprehensive and cooperative engagement.
7. The leaders of ASEAN realised the enormity and the dif-
ficulties of the task. Our ambition was tempered by the
knowledge that the journey would be long with many obstacles
along the way. There was much diffidence, scepticism and
concern regarding the prospects for success. Indeed, for a
time in the early days after the initial euphoria was over,
ASEAN was in limbo, neither quite dead nor quite alive. The
enterprise appeared doomed. Many believed that ASEAN too
would go the way of ASA and of MAPHILINDO.
8. Yet despite the sarcasm of the detractors, the
scepticism of the "realists" and the concerns of the found-
ing fathers, not only are we here to celebrate the 25th an-
niversary of ASEAN but the conviction of '67 and the
ambition of a quarter century ago have proven justified.
The regional act of reconciliation has borne a harvest of
bounty. Without fear of contradiction, it can be said that
ASEAN has been one of the most successful regional
endeavours in the post-war period, perhaps second only to
the European Community.
9. The ASEAN Community of today is a community of peace
and security, a zone of prosperity and cooperation, a group-
ing of independent states with a justifiable reason to be
proud of its stability and economic prosperity. It is a
concerted voice that is heard and often heeded by the
international community.
10. In unity we have found strength. We have avoided the
corruption of powerlessness, the corrupting belief that we
are merely the objects rather than the subjects of interna-
tional politics. We have succeeded in being the key actors
in the making of our collective and individual futures and
in the shaping of our region. We have been spared the psy-
chological sense of isolation. By working together over a
quarter of a century we have created confidence, understand-
ing, security, goodwill and cooperation among us. We have
brought peace to our peoples and prosperity to our nations
-- to the point where even the Northeast Asian dragons and
the rest of the world have to acknowledge the
competitiveness of the ASEAN members. We have succeeded in
creating an "ASEAN Spirit" and a sense of ASEAN community
among our peoples. This, I believe, is the secret to the
success of ASEAN.
11. Reflection on the record of ASEAN and its role in the
past gives ample reason for celebration, and for honouring
the founding fathers and the many statesmen who nurtured and
developed ASEAN. But it is also a time for a new commitment
to the old wisdoms and a new commitment to new purposes and
directions.
12. Let me briefly mention the old wisdom by first refer-
ring to the five "Cs": Consultation, Consensus, Caring,
Cornerstone, Consolidation. The importance of consultation
remains undiminished. ASEAN's world of the 1990s is vastly
different from our much simpler world of the 1960s. The
range of issues which we each have to address nationally and
internationally bears no comparison with our limited govern-
mental agendas of 25 years ago. Despite all the other
callings in a world of increasing complexity and the pres-
sures on our time and resources, the closest consultation
between us on all the key issues cannot be neglected.
13. The criticality of consensus remains central. However
much we are driven by our various national missions, the
principle of decision-making by consensus and the effort to
generate as much consensus between us as possible should not
be forgotten.
14. The need for caring for the ASEAN interest, in addition
to our various national interests, remains essential. In
the final analysis caring for ASEAN interest will benefit
the national interest of each and everyone of us. Therefore
mutual accommodation, a spirit of give and take and compro-
mise, remain as vital as ever.
15. The need to ensure that ASEAN remains the cornerstone
of all our foreign policies is paramount. We should guard
against complacency and against taking ASEAN and our bilat-
eral relations for granted.
16. On this and all the other "Cs" the work of the ASEAN
partners is far from finished. Much has to be done. Thus
the importance of consolidation. There should be renewed
commitment to consultation and to strenghtening the present
ASEAN consensus. There should be renewed commitment to car-
ing for each other's interests and feelings. There should
be a renewed commitment to ensuring that ASEAN remains the
cornerstone of the foreign policies of all ASEAN states.
These should remain at the heart of the agenda for ASEAN all
the way to 2017.
17. We should strive to strengthen the ASEAN Zone of Peace,
Freedom and Neutrality (ZOPFAN) which is so close to
realisation today. ZOPFAN should be broadened to encompass
all of Southeast Asia. This was a core element of the vi-
sion of our founding fathers. It should remain a core ele-
ment of ASEAN's Agenda up to the year 2017 and beyond.
18. We should also endeavour to turn Southeast Asia into a
prosperous region. We must be prepared to comprehensively
engage all the countries of the region and eventually admit
them into ASEAN. We must act with the conviction and the
ambition our founding fathers summoned when they acted a
quarter century ago. The circumstances that confronted the
attempt to create ASEAN then were in many ways more diffi-
cult and problematic than the circumstances that prevail to-
day. The ideological and economic circumstances of today
are more conducive to the creation of a wider Southeast
Asian Community.
19. Peace and harmonious relations between us have been the
fundamental bedrock of ASEAN. The time has come for us to
bring economics to the core of the ASEAN enterprise. In a
world where international relations is overwhelmingly being
dictated by economic considerations, failure to have an ef-
fective, meaningful and workable programme of economic coop-
eration that ensures a stake for all, will only make ASEAN a
toothless tiger rather than an economic tiger that we all
aspire to be. In this regard, it is a matter of great pride
to ASEAN that following modest achievements in economic co-
operation over the past decade, ASEAN had recently made that
giant leap forward towards far-reaching economic cooperation
by agreeing to the Common Effective Preferential Tariff
(CEPT) arrangement that would lead to the ASEAN Free Trade
Area (AFTA) within 15 years. A bold decision requires a
firm commitment. ASEAN must ensure that the CEPT works so
that the process of trade liberalisation will be completed
within 15 years, though it is Malaysia's hope that AFTA
would be firmly in place sooner.
20. If we appear to be in a hurry, it is only because ASEAN
has little lead time to prepare itself against the growing
challenges coming its way - challenges which, if not suc-
cessfully met would threaten our economic well-being.
21. We already have a productive 'post-Ministerial Confer-
ence' system at the end of the annual ASEAN Ministerial
Meeting. We should develop the ASEAN Economic Ministers
Meeting in a similar direction, enriching the process and
making it even more productive for our national and regional
interests.
22. The other institutional and supportive mechanisms which
relate to ASEAN economic cooperation could be further
strengthened. A start has been made with the strengthening
of the ASEAN Secretariat. We should do more in areas such
as industrial joint ventures, complementation, reinforcing
our transport networks, cooperation in the field of tourism,
joint energy development projects, power grid and network of
gas pipelines, strengthening monetary and financial cooper-
ation and much much more.
23. As we seek to intensify our cooperation, we must at the
same time develop closer relations in all fields with other
Southeast Asia nations that are currently outside of ASEAN.
Such cooperation will not only assist them in their develop-
ment efforts but will also pave the way for their eventual
membership of ASEAN. Malaysia hopes that the ASEAN six will
transform into an ASEAN 10 that will include Vietnam, Laos,
Cambodia and Myanmar in not too distant a future. Our hope
rests on the belief that only when all the countries of
Southeast Asia are joined together by a common sense of vi-
sion and purpose that ASEAN come to symbolise, can there be
mutual trust, peace and stability in the entire Southeast
Asian region.
24. Economically, it would be fair to envisage that by
2017, at the end of ASEAN second generation, and on the ba-
sis of our track record, there could be more than one devel-
oped industrial country within ASEAN. And there will be
several NIEs well set on the way there. Should Vietnam,
Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar all join ASEAN by then, there is
likely to be in place within the grouping developed indus-
trial countries -- NIEs and near-NIEs -- enjoying a common
prosperity, with reduced economic gaps. This is a dream we
must have and a dream towards which we should work.
25. Clearly, we cannot achieve many of the political and
economic elements of ASEAN's Agenda 2017 unless we also make
remarkable progress in fostering a greater ASEAN conscious-
ness at all levels, and in strengthening the cultural and
informational buttresses of the entire ASEAN enterprise.
Higher levels of cooperation require new levels of psycho-
logical integration and regional consciousness. If we can-
not achieve this, the entire process will be stalled.
26. Over the entire course of the next quarter century, we
will of course need to continuously strengthen the ASEAN
Concert of Nations. Evidently, over the next 25 years, even
as we must expect increasing globalisation, we must expect
the consolidation of regional integration in three crucial
regional economies:
x the regional economy of Western Europe, centring upon
the European Community, which has already drawn in the
EFTA countries and which will draw in the emergent
economies of eastern Europe;
x the regional economy of the North American Free Trade
Area, which will draw in the economies of central and
southern America;
x the already highly integrated regional economy of East
Asia. At the rates of growth achieved in the last dec-
ade, by 2017 East Asia will have a GNP substantially
bigger than that of Western Europe.
27. For all our sakes, it is crucial that the present
global trading system opens up, widens and deepens. It is
crucial to ensure that all the integrating regional econo-
mies become processes for increasing open regionalism. It
is important to the entire world to ensure that the economic
intercourse and linkages between these three regional econo-
mies also widen and deepen. A Fortress Europe, a Fortress
America and a Fortress East Asia will be calamitous to us
all.
28. In this context it is imperative that ASEAN plays a
role in ensuring an open global trading system, to ensure
that all the three regional economies will be the epitome of
open regionalism and to enrich the linkages and the proc-
esses of interdependence between us all.
29. ASEAN will have to act with force and statesmanship to
strengthen our position within the East Asian regional econ-
omy while maintaining and even enhancing our linkages with
the Western European bloc and the NAFTA bloc. If we are
successful, we will be making an important contribution to
an open global economy, to an open Western Europe and an
open NAFTA.
30. The old world order that emerged after the Second World
War is dead. A new world order is in the making. If we sit
still and do nothing, it will be made without us. ASEAN
must clearly and deliberately decide that this will not come
to pass. The ASEAN Concert must resolve to act to make sure
that the new world order that will emerge is not only new
but also better. We must resolve to play a role in the mak-
ing of the new world order that is a comprehensive improve-
ment, characterised by greater justice and anchored to the
principle of equality and mutual respect. It must be a more
caring world order, wedded to the principle of global fra-
ternity, and the democratic participation of all states,
small and big.
31. I was recently asked whether ASEAN is today superflu-
ous, whether it is any longer necessary. Such is the extent
to which some have taken ASEAN for granted.
32. In Malaysia, we have a saying: "Do not throw away the
stick once you have crossed the river". ASEAN has clearly
been an invaluable instrument to help us meet the challenges
that have confronted us over the last quarter century. We
should be grateful to the stick that has helped us to cross
the many rivers, to get to where we are today. But ASEAN is
more than an institution to which we must bow in gratitude.
33. As I have suggested, we have so many more rivers to
cross in the days ahead, so many challenges to meet, so many
threats to confront, so many opportunities to reap. ASEAN's
agenda for its second generation is long and demanding. It
is the height of folly to take ASEAN for granted. Instead,
now is the time to take ASEAN to a new plane, to take it to
new horizons in the ASEAN Community, in Southeast Asia, in
East Asia, in the Pacific and in the world. It is indeed
time to re-commit ourselves to old wisdoms and to new di-
rections.
34. On this note, ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure
to formally open the First ASEAN Congress and wish you suc-
cess in your deliberations.
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