Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : KASANE, BOTSWANA
Tarikh/Date : 05/05/97
Tajuk/Title : THE FIRST SOUTHERN AFRICA
INTERNATIONAL DIALOGUE
1. First of all I must thank the organisers for giving
me the honour of addressing this distinguished gathering
of Government and business leaders from Southern Africa.
I would like to take this opportunity to convey the
Government of Malaysia's appreciation to H.E. President
Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, H.E. President Sam Nujoma of
Namibia and H.E. President Sir Ketumile Masire of
Botswana for gracing and actively participating in the
Second Langkawi International Dialogue last year, thereby
raising the Langkawi International Dialogue (LID) '96 to
a higher plane.
2. At LID '96, I spoke about our national concept of
Malaysia Incorporated as an embodiment of Smart
Partnership that enables Malaysia to achieve an economic
growth of over eight percent per annum for the past ten
years. Under the Malaysia Incorporated concept, the
civil service no longer regards the private sector as its
natural enemy. Instead they consider the private sector
as contributing towards nation-building. And
consequently the privatisation of Government companies,
institutions and functions in no way represents an
abdication by Government of its responsibilities to the
nation and the people.
3. Malaysia Incorporated, within the context of Smart
Partnership implies the deliberate policy of tripartite
cooperation among the civil service, the private sector
and the political leaders. The partnership is smart
because it yielded results -- results which are shared
without exception by everyone, not only by the three
partners but by the people and the nation as a whole. I
am glad to report that now the unions have come on board,
to be a partner within Malaysia Inc. so as to contribute
towards the national agenda. It is recognised by the
trade unions that their own struggle can only be
successful if the nation is successful and prosperous.
The failure of the nation to attain economic success
cannot result in prosperity for the workers. In an
economically poor country, striking and taking to the
streets cannot increase your income simply because there
is really no wealth to distribute or redistribute.
4. We have also extended the concept of Smart
Partnership to regional cooperation. The formation of
the Association of South East Asian Nations or ASEAN is
one such partnership. Within ASEAN, we have devised
elements of complementarity for our manufacturing
industries. There are also efforts to promote joint
development among member ASEAN countries through the
setting up of growth triangles involving adjacent
territories of neighbouring member states.
5. Smart partnerships clearly can take place between
many entities. Apart from Government and the Private
Sector, and nations in a region there can be smart
partnerships between individuals, between companies,
between twin cities and a host of others.
6. I believe the South African Development Cooperation
(SADC) too will evolve into a Smart Partnership and this
inaugural South African International Dialogue or SAID
'97 will definitely accelerate the process. I am most
happy to note that SAID '97 is the second International
Dialogue to take off after the Langkawi International
Dialogue launched in 1995. The first one was the
Barbados International Dialogue for Small Nation States
(BID 96) last year. Other regions may follow suit. When
such a time comes, it will usher in a new understanding
between regions and groupings which may contribute to an
era of global peace and prosperity, a Commonwealth of the
world where wealth would truly be common.
7. I would like to warn you however that smart
partnership is just one element in the formula for
success. Systems and formulae by themselves cannot
guarantee success. This is because other elements play a
role and can affect the success or otherwise of a formula
or system. And so smart partnership depends also on the
environment, not the trees and forests but the political
and economic environment within the country and without,
the culture and the value system of the people, and a lot
of other minor elements.
8. ASEAN and SADC share many common features, one of
which is that many of the member states in these two
organisations were former colonies of countries from the
Imperial North. Malaysia was lucky that the transition
from a British colony to an independent nation was a
peaceful one. Many others were not so lucky and they had
to endure the traumas of bloodshed and civil strife
before they could achieve independence from their
colonial masters. And this invariably has a deleterious
effect on their subsequent development.
9. But can we developing countries be truly
independent? Undoubtedly, direct occupation and
political control has ended but this has been replaced by
much more insidious forms of colonialisation. Indeed
many of us have found that we are more dependent than
when we were colonies. Our politics, economy, social and
behavioural systems are all still under the control,
directly or indirectly, of the old colonial masters and
the great powers. And this constitute the environment in
which we have to manage ourselves. Our struggle for
independence is far from over.
10. As we all know the moment the European nations
realised that they were all going to lose their empires,
they decided to come together in order to continue their
grip on international affairs. Today the European Union
is a powerful force which tries to impose its will on the
rest of the world. For a time they were preoccupied with
the East-West confrontation. But now that is over and a
much more united Europe which includes the Eastern states
and Russia will confront the rest of the world.
11. Their approach will be more subtle. Colonisation is
over, but now comes globalisation. The borders which
define countries will be erased and economic competition
on a so-called level playing field must reign supreme.
Globalisation and level playing fields have become the
catchwords of a new religion and as we know, you do not
challenge religious faith no matter how obviously wrong
they are. You merely accept it.
12. Is it coincidental that globalisation seems to
favour the rich and the powerful? We cannot protect our
fledgling industries behind our borders anymore. They
must compete with the giants of the world. Imagine the
Malaysian car competing against cars produced by the
millions by General Motors or Volkswagon or Daimler-Benz
or Toyota. Malaysia has to pay a high price for a small
part of the technology and buy a whole lot of overpriced
components. Can Malaysia's cost of production, despite
low labour cost be as low as the millions of cars coming
from the robotized and automated assembly lines of the
rich? And yet we are told to open up the market. Our
GSP is about to be withdrawn. And all these on the alter
of globalisation, transparency, borderlessness, fair
wages and level playing fields.
13. Malaysia used to be the biggest producer of tin and
rubber in the world. It became rich, or at least people
like Mr. Guthrie, Mr. Boustead, Mr. Sime and many others
became rich, because of these two commodities. About the
time we became independent synthetic rubber was
developed, and instead of tin cans, food and other
products are packed in plastic, aluminium, paper and
glass containers. The bottom was knocked off our only
foreign exchange earners. Our commodities lost their
earning capacity and prices could not keep up with the
ever-increasing prices of manufactured goods we have to
import, some of which are made from our own raw
materials. Open and free competition is great but every
time we open and we compete, we lose out. How is that?
Should the South confine itself to the real playing
field, to soccer and cricket fields, where we stand a
chance of winning and leave the economic playing fields
to our betters? I think we should, but now our best
players will be bought by the rich so they may get all
the gold for themselves on the real playing fields too.
14. I am not saying this out of bitterness. Malaysia
has done reasonably well. ASEAN has done reasonably
well. But what I have mentioned are facts, hard facts,
which will have a bearing on the future of all developing
countries.
15. In the WTO, who comes up with new catch phrases such
as globalisation, the environment, child labour, workers
rights, borderless world, level playing fields etc? It
is invariably the economically powerful nations of the
North. And for some reason or other, all the solutions
to these issues or problems will result in economic gains
for the rich.
16. How our workers sweated and toiled during the
colonial period was not an issue before, but it is an
issue now. Millions of acres of prime forests in
Malaysia were cut down and burnt in order to grow rubber
and mine for tin in the colonial days, and nobody cared.
Today environmentalists demonstrate against us and
boycott our timber because we build a dam to provide
cheap electricity for our people.
17. I appreciate the genuine concern and the cooperation
on the part of many from the developed countries about
developing the poor countries. But I would like to warn
developing countries here and elsewhere that there will
always be things that the developed will do which will
not benefit us. We will face many obstacles, one of the
worst is the corruption of our Governments with aid in
order that we will not speak freely about what is being
done against us. Very frequently developing countries
are forced to support the stand of developed countries or
face loss of aid or some material support. Time and time
again, developing countries are divided and splintered
when debating issues such as market access or GSP rights,
as a result of which they all lose out.
18. Aid is welcome but aid with strings often negate the
help extended. In the early years of the IMF, developing
countries were persuaded to borrow money for development.
This they did with a great deal of hope. But today most
developing countries which borrowed from the World Bank
are deeply in debt. In some cases fully 80 percent of
their meagre foreign exchange earnings go towards paying
debts, leaving them totally unable even to pay the
salaries of Government employees. And as is customary
with banks, when you most need loans, that is when they
rate you as not creditworthy and refuse to lend to you.
The IMF is no different. Today the net flow has been
reversed and the World Bank receives more in loan
payments than the loans they give out. The world Bank is
profitable for the shareholders who are almost all
developed rich countries.
19. But having lent money to the poor countries, the
World Bank insists on directing the management of the
economy of these countries.
20. The advice they give is calculated to benefit the
repayment of loans they had given out. The political
effects of their directives do not bother them.
Frequently countries are destabilised and Governments
overthrown due to following the advice of the World Bank.
21. Now of course the obsession is with liberal
democracy and the multiparty system. I am all for
democracy. Malaysia has many political parties and the
opposition invariably win seats in Parliament and in the
legislative councils of the states. Opposition parties
have formed Governments in several states and they still
control one state. But the democratic system is not the
easiest system to operate.
22. The present liberal democratic countries in the
North have had over 200 years of experience. They became
democratic slowly. Even today they are in the process of
developing the system.
23. But the former colonies which gained independence in
the Post World War II period had to go from autocratic
government operated by the metropolitan countries to self-
administered democracy, overnight literally. How do
people who had never known democracy suddenly make this
complex system work?
24. Many developing countries which adopted the one
party system failed because they had had no experience in
Government. Now they are being told to have a multiparty
system, to have elections to choose a Government. Many
only understand the freedom that they are entitled to,
not at all the responsibility, least of all the intricate
workings of a multiparty democracy. And so they take to
the streets to demonstrate, they have general strikes and
generally they destabilise the nation in the belief that
they are exercising democratic rights. In one former
Communist European country the people exercised their so-
called democratic right by continuous street
demonstration. The Government was rendered helpless.
Armories were raided and guns seized by rioters. Law and
order broke down completely. Innocent people including
children were killed. Finally, foreign troops had to be
called in to forcibly return law and order. And all
these because people who had never known democracy
suddenly had democratic freedom thrust upon them. Can we
blame them if the whole thing went to their heads
somewhat?
25. It is assumed that people will know what is good for
them and in a democracy they have the right to determine
for themselves what the government should be doing. But
in fact people can also be corrupted by the power they
wield in a democracy. Their decisions are not always
good for them. They are as likely to shoot themselves in
the foot as anyone else in power.
26. People do chose representatives and parties not
because they are capable of forming good clean
Governments. They do chose people because they hate the
previous government for imposing necessary taxes or for
collecting taxes. Good government is very often far from
their minds. Instead, they may simply hate the
Government even though the Government had brought
prosperity to them. Then they may allow themselves to be
instigated into bringing down a Government to help
achieve the narrow ambitions of politicians who are
corrupt or intent to rape the nation.
27. Mass movements in a democracy can be whipped into a
frenzy by irresponsible politicians. Far too many multi-
party democratic countries have been quite unable to have
effective Governments because no party has been able to
gain a good majority. Post-election coalitions of weak
parties which constantly bicker among themselves have
proven to be worse than no Government. The country
suffers politically and economically. Poverty spreads,
infrastructure and public utilities and services
collapse. And people generally suffer. The nation
becomes weak and is manipulated by powerful nations.
Debts mount and eventually the country becomes bankrupt.
28. All these things are actually happening. These are
not hypothetical cases. They are happening not because
democracy is a bad system. They are happening because
people assume that systems can solve problems. Systems
do not solve anything. People do. Democracy or for that
matter any form of government can bring about development
and a good life for the people if the people know how the
system works and the limits of the system. The best
political system or Government system requires discipline
from the people in order to make them work. The value
system and the political understanding of the people is
important. They must not expect to get everything for
themselves. They must accord power to the Government
i.e. they must accept unpleasant decisions made by the
Government as for example imposing taxes and collecting
them, limiting freedom, regulating a whole lot of things
which may prevent untoward things from happening. Above
all they must allow the Government to govern and not
distract it by destabilising actions. If the country is
to be democratic the Government should be removed only
through regular elections. And of course the Government
must never abuse its power.
29. A multi-party liberal democratic system is not
something which everyone is familiar with, least of all a
newly independent country which had been ruled
autocratically by foreigners as a colony for decades or
even centuries. To expect such a country, to expect its
people at the midnight lowering of the imperial flag, to
suddenly practise the most sophisticated form of liberal
democratic Government, is insane. To expect a true and
proper election even is too much.
30. We should go for democracy of course. But we should
be tolerant of the fumbling attempts, the failures and
the mismanagements. The world must help in the training
of Government in the management of the economy. We should
not expect the ultimate. We should not tolerate the
dictators who emerge of course. But we should understand
why they emerged. They emerge because we impose a system
on people who do not understand or had no experience of
working the system.
31. The old League of Nations used to set up trust
territories. Unfortunately, the objective was to
perpetuate colonisation. But the trusteeship could be
used to provide a period of supervision which can be
applied to certain countries which have no inkling about
democracy. Countries like Rwanda, Burundi, Bosnia
Herzegovina and a few others could benefit from the UN
moving in early in order to oversee the transition from
autocratic colonial rule to democracy and economic
management. This way less damage would be done than
waiting until hundreds of thousands are massacred, or the
economy totally destroyed before the UN offers tepid
help, or the World Bank begins to advise. Liberal
democracy and the totally free market can do as much
damage or even more damage than limited democracy and a
less open market.
32. As I pointed out earlier the moment the North lost
their colonies in the South, they set up the European
Economic Community which today has become the European
Union, a very powerful economic entity capable of forcing
its will on the South that they had raped before and
impoverished through unfavourable terms of trade. But
the North has not finished yet. They have formed the
Group of Seven (G7) to totally dominate the world, to
colonise it by other means.
33. As an example when Japan flooded the international
market with their cheap yet high quality goods, the rest
of the G7, pushed up the value of the Yen in order to
make the Japanese less competitive and to regain their
markets. For the poor in this world cheap Japanese goods
enabled them to enjoy such luxuries as radios,
televisions and pick-up trucks, even motorcars. But the
revaluation of the Yen following the so-called Plaza
Accord pushed up prices of Japanese goods out of reach of
the poor in poor countries.
34. But the Japanese had already invested for production
in the lower-cost countries of Southeast Asia. A
campaign was mounted in the International Labour
Organisation (ILO) by trade unions of the North to push
up labour costs in Southeast Asia to negate the
competitive advantage these countries offer to the
Japanese. Workers in these countries were urged to
demand high wages and to destabilise the country through
industrial actions so that foreign investors would shy
away. The ultimate result of the sympathy of trade
unions of the North for our workers is to push cost up,
reduce direct foreign investments and reduce employment
opportunities for the workers. This way the workers in
the North will not face unemployment, will continue to
enjoy high wages, and a high standard of living.
35. I will not speak about the linking of non-trade
issues with trade and the threat of sanctions because we
all know that it is not because of concern for our
environment or workers' rights, all of which in the end
will stifle our economic development and impoverish our
people. But I would like to mention about the effect of
the Yen revaluation on the Yen loans to developing
countries. Because the value of the Yen has increased 2
1/2 times the rate of exchange with the Malaysian Ringgit
at the time we borrowed, our debts in Malaysian Ringgit
has also increased by 2 1/2 times. We now have to find 2
1/2 RM plus interest for every 100 Yen we had borrowed
when in fact 100 Yen before the Plaza Accord was equal to
only 1 RM. And all because the G7 wanted to solve their
deficits in trade with Japan. Japan is not paying. We
of the South, the recipients of the so-called cheap Yen
loans, are the ones who are paying.
36. The G7 is snooty. They will not condescend to talk
with people outside their club except with Russia. We
have asked to at least be allowed to have our views heard
before they decide on matters affecting us but we have
been totally ignored. They refuse to talk to the
Chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). And they
refuse to talk to the G15 countries or their
representatives. This is of course democratic. In their
democracy of old, only landlords had the right to vote.
The common man had none. In modern day liberal
international democracy, only the rich can have a say,
the poor shall remain voiceless. And these same people
preach ad nauseam about democracy to us.
37. We live in an international jungle. There is no law
and order in international relations. There is very
little justice. The high and the mighty rules. The weak
and the poor just have to lump it.
38. With all these threats and obstructive actions we
must now face the challenge of globalisation. Are we in
a state to face this challenge? Quite obviously not.
But no one is going to wait for us to get ready for the
challenge. So whether we like it or not we have to face
the challenge.
39. The only way that the weak can face any challenge is
to present a united front, better still to form a smart
partnership. We are here today because I believe we are
interested in smart partnerships. Nations can come
together to form smart partnerships. Not only will we be
able to present a united front but through smart
partnerships we can actually strengthen each other. We
are not without assets and experience. By exchanging our
experiences in economic management, we can learn to do
what is right and avoid the mistakes that any one of us
may have made. By sharing whatever little assets we have
we can consolidate our strength.
40. Not only should the countries of Southern Africa
come together but they should establish contact and
cooperate with groupings such as ASEAN or the Indian
Ocean Rim countries. The regional organisations too can
form smart partnerships. When faced with damaging
proposals from the developed North the Regional
Organisations can take a common stand. This we did at
the WTO meeting in Singapore. And we prevailed.
41. At home we should form smart partnerships between
the Government and the private sector and also with the
trade unions. We must ensure good Government dedicated
to developing the country and enriching the people.
42. We must be democratic in the sense of being willing
to use the ballot box to determine who forms the
Government. And having elected the Government we must
allow it to govern for the duration of its term. Elected
Government is not always good, but bringing it down
through demonstrations and industrial actions does more
harm than good. Here members of regional groupings can
help supervise to ensure elections are fair. Unless the
crimes committed are serious, new Governments should not
take revenge on previous Governments.
43. Political stability is absolutely essential for
economic development, for fending off the predators from
the developed North, and for maintaining the
independence, the hard-won independence of our nation.
We must realise that left to them, the North that is,
globalisation will become another form of colonisation.
We had fought hard for independence. We had shed blood
for it. But we must know that globalisation, the
breaking down of national borders, will result in the
loss of independence. How can we be independent nations
if we have no borders.
44. The North can gain much by recolonising. But we do
have the ultimate weapon. People are more mobile now.
They can go anywhere. In a borderless world we can go
anywhere. If we are not allowed a good life in our
countries, if we are going to be global citizens, then we
should migrate North. We should migrate North in our
millions, legally or illegally. Masses of Asians and
Africans should inundate Europe and America. If there is
any strength that we have, it is in the numbers. Three-
fourth of the world is either black, brown, yellow or
some combination of all these. We will make all nations
in the world rainbow nations.
45. This is how we will ultimately challenge
globalisation. I hope we don't have to resort to this.
But we will if we are not allowed a piece of the action,
a piece of the cake; if we are not allowed to prosper in
a borderless world.
46. We can try to learn from those from the North who
have been successful a very long time. But they have
forgotten how they succeeded. And they have no patience
for those who do not seem to know the obvious, who seem
not to want to follow advice, who tumble and stumble and
keep on making mistakes.
47. We should know of course that globalisation has
come. The world will be borderless. All barriers will
be taken down. Everyone is free to go anywhere, to trade
anywhere, to invest anywhere, to do business anywhere.
We from the South, from the developing countries can now
go and set up our banks and industries, our supermarket
and hotel chains in the rich North even as the
Northerners can come into our countries to set up banks
and industries, business chains etc. The problem is that
we don't have the banks and the industries and the
business chains to go North to benefit from the freedom
of globalisation. We don't even have them in our own
countries, how do we benefit from the right to go North?
It we have they are tiny. The field will be level but we
are midgets in a world of giants. The giants will come
and the giants will conquer.
48. I do not want to be pessimistic, too pessimistic.
There is some hope. There is hope if we can work
together, if we can form smart partnerships, if we can
help each other, if we can devise ways of mutual help for
the benefit of partners.
49. Many of us have come a long way to attend this
dialogue, the First Southern Africa International
Dialogue. We are here because we are all concerned about
our countries, about our people. As leaders we have
responsibilities to our people. And we have to be
serious, of course.
50. I hope that we can have a good dialogue so that we
can go back to our own countries to apply what we have
learnt, for the good of our people. That is our mission.
|
|