Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : SRI PERDANA, KUALA LUMPUR
Tarikh/Date : 09/02/98
Tajuk/Title : THE OFFICIAL DINNER IN HONOUR OF
HIS EXCELLENCY RAFIC HARIRI PRIME
MINISTER OF THE REPUBLIC OF LEBANON
1. Let me say how happy we are to receive you, dear
brother, once again in Malaysia. I know and we
Malaysians all know that you are here because you are
our friend, you are concerned about us and desire to
cooperate with us in good times and in bad times. For
our part we have always looked upon you as a friend,
sharing in your sorrows and your joys, despite the
distance that separates us.
2. Last year I visited your great country, Lebanon,
together with my wife and an entourage consisting of
Government officials and businessmen. We were very keen
then to participate in our small way in the
reconstruction of your country. Our business people
thought they could take up some of the projects you
offered which would contribute to the rebuilding of
Beirut and other parts of your country. Our businessmen
had the experience and the means to invest in Lebanon,
modestly no doubt, but hopefully not too
insignificantly.
3. But today we regret very much that we have to
withdraw. The carpet had been pulled from under our
feet. We no longer have the wherewithal to invest
abroad. In fact even in our own country our capacity to
invest and develop has been diminished. Suddenly after
years of prosperity created by our own system and
efforts we have been made poor, along with the other
countries of South East Asia. The process of
impoverishment is very simple. It is just by devaluing
our currency.
4. We of South East Asia are told that our Governments
are corrupt, indulge in cronyism and nepotism. We are
not transparent. Our system and our way of doing things
were not only wrong but were thoroughly wicked and
oppressive on our people.
5. You may have noticed during your last visit that
the allegedly oppressive, despotic and corrupt
Governments that we have in this region had built
prosperous countries and prosperous people. In
Malaysia, the growth averaged eight percent per annum
and per capita grew from US$300 at the time of
independence in 1957 to US$5,000 in June 1997.
6. There was no unemployment in Malaysia. Indeed we
created so many jobs that workers from other countries
flocked to Malaysia to share in our prosperity.
7. Our multiracial people lived in harmony and worked
closely together. They helped make our affirmative
action successful in creating a more equitable society
despite our many different racial and religious
affinities.
8. With our own money we built roads and ports,
airports, waterworks and power plants, railways etc. We
built up shipping lines and airlines which compare well
even with those of developed countries. We built up
trade to become the 19th biggest trading nation in the
world, exporting not just commodities but mostly
sophisticated manufactured goods. We built no statues
or useless monuments unless of course dams and roads,
ports and airports and buildings are classified as
monuments.
9. No segment of our society was ignored. Everyone
rich and poor benefited and were enriched. Poverty was
for practical purposes banished. If we had cronies and
practised nepotism then we must consider all the people
of Malaysia as cronies and family members for all of
them gained from the administration and policies of the
Malaysian Government and indeed from the Governments of
the tiger economies of South East Asia.
10. Now, after so many years of profiting from our
economic policy, we are told that our ways were wrong
and have caused them to lose confidence. By pulling out
their capital and by other ways at their disposal they
have taken away the wealth that we had built up, leaving
us practically destitute. Indeed some countries have
been bankrupted by them, resulting in millions upon
millions of workers becoming unemployed, causing social
and political unrest where once there was prosperity and
stability. All these we are told are the work of market
forces in order to discipline the Governments.
11. But whereas our allegedly corrupt cronyism and
nepotism had created prosperity for all our people,
giving jobs and good income to everyone, we are seeing
market forces doing just the opposite. Today all the
prosperity of the countries of South East Asia is gone,
the workers are unemployed by the millions, thousands of
good companies have been bankrupted, the stock markets
have collapsed, banks and finance companies forced to
close and generally poverty and destitution has once
again descended on our people. These once prosperous
countries were forced to beg for loans to repay their
debts which have become bloated due to the depreciation
of their currency.
12. But now it is suggested that help should be
withheld until these governments uphold human rights.
What about the rights of the millions of workers who
have lost their jobs and become destitutes. Devaluation
of their money has deprived them of their livelihood. It
is not the national Governments which did this. It is
the market forces let loose by certain Governments which
did this. Shouldn't these Governments be accused of
violating human rights also?
13. There is so much self-righteousness and hypocrisy
that we have lost faith in those who preach human
rights. Actually 'might is right' has come back with a
vengeance. We have now decided to accept it and to bow
to forces which we cannot resist. We know that if we
don't our people will be punished by depriving them of
whatever little that they have left.
14. I must admit to being confused. The countries of
South East Asia had achieved prosperity to the extent
that it was described as a miracle. The Governments and
the administration were not perfect of course. But
which Government in the world is or has been perfect?
Every sin committed by the Governments of South East
Asian countries has been committed by every country
including those who talk incessantly of good Government
and governance. Indeed in many instances they are
worse, being more corrupt, running bigger deficits etc.
And yet they have not been punished, they have not had
their books inspected, been told to mend their ways or
else.
15. My brother, our two countries are in the process of
reconstruction; you from the ravages of war and we from
the ravages caused by an unprecedented assault on our
economy. There is much that we have in common and
therefore there is much that we can do together. Even
weak countries working together can bolster each other's
strength. And we are not exactly the weakest economies
in the world. I feel certain that through friendship
and cooperation our two countries will be able to
recover and develop, insya-Allah.
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