Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR.
MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : DHAKA, THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC
OF BANGLADESH
Tarikh/Date : 01/03/99
Tajuk/Title : THE SECOND SUMMIT LEVEL MEETING
OF " CO-OPERATION FOR
DEVELOPMENT" OR D-8
I wish to thank Prime Minister Madame Sheikh Hasina
for her kind words of welcome. The gracious Bangladeshi
hospitality extended to members of my delegation and I
will long be remembered. May I also take this occasion
to express my appreciation to His Excellency President
Suleyman Demirel for Turkey's invaluable contribution to
the D-8 process and its continued support in moving this
forum forward.
2. It is fitting that we should meet in Bangladesh for
this nation of poets and artists, of great intellectuals
reflect the true potentials of the Muslim world. Since
its independence Bangladesh has never ceased to struggle
to rebuild itself and that struggle has been greatly
rewarded. I hope the struggle of Bangladesh would serve
as an inspiration and a model for us in the D-8.
3. We the developing Muslim countries of the D-8 meet
in Bangladesh today in the 19th year of the Fifteenth
Century of the Hijrah. It is not a significant year in
the history of Islam. It marks no particular turning
point. But we cannot work on the basis of a significant
date or century or millennium.
4. Being in the 15th Century means we are more than
1400 years from the emergence and flowering of our
faith, our religion. In that period of time all the
great religions which inspired and guided humanity have
undergone changes and so have lost their true meaning
and their influence on the lives of their adherents.
And Islam is no exception. Let us admit that Islam and
the Islamic world is now divided against itself, is in
disarray, is quite unable to cope with the changes that
are revolutionising life in this world, is sliding
further and further backwards.
5. There is a great deal of wealth and potentials
among the Islamic nations but they have not contributed
to the well-being or the progress of most of us. None
of us can claim to be a force of consequence in the
international arena today. Many of us have been unable
to make our nations stable, capable of making progress
to match that of the advanced countries of the world,
countries none of which are Muslim.
6. While we are in the 15th century the rest of the
world seems to be in the 20th century. They are now
approaching the 21st century and the third millennium.
In many ways they seem to be centuries ahead of us. And
now they have introduced new ideas and new technologies
which we are not prepared for and we are seemingly
unable to handle.
7. Among these are new concepts about Governments and
international relations. We find ourselves unable to
reject them or to offer our own alternatives. Yet we
seem unable to apply these concepts effectively. The
concepts of democratic Governments have been largely
mishandled by us. We enjoy the rights conferred but we
do not seem to recognise that along with the rights come
the need for responsibility. As a result our
Governments are seldom stable long enough to make
governance effective and beneficial to our countries and
peoples.
8. While we are still experiencing domestic turmoil
due to mishandling these modern concepts of Government
and modern ideologies, new ideas about international
relations have been introduced. Concepts such as
globalisation have broken down the barrier which we had
depended upon to protect our countries, culture and
religion. Exposed to these assaults we find ourselves
quite helpless and unable to adjust or to take advantage
of the new ways and ideas.
9. One of the manifestations of globalisation is the
free flow of capital across borders. The huge wealth
some of us have accumulated through the extraction of
our natural resources have not been invested in our own
countries. Instead we have taken advantage of the free
flow of capital to invest in the developed countries.
Effectively we have enriched them. But we do not know
how to use this investment in order to influence them.
10. They have instead used our money to invest in our
countries and then to suddenly pull out their
investments in order to destabilise and impoverish us.
Then they take advantage of our poverty in order to gain
control over us. Clearly we are not adept in the use of
our wealth and the free flows of capital. A lot of our
own money is held hostage abroad and actually used
against us.
11. In fact we are not even able to use our natural
resources to enrich ourselves. Our very resources are
the cause of our present impoverishment and weakness.
We know that they can provide us with powerful means to
assert our influence on the whole world, to strengthen
us and to protect us from oppression. All we need is
the will to regulate the supply. Yet we cannot do even
this.
12. Globalisation is being promoted in every field.
Malaysia has experienced one of the effects of
globalisation. Malaysia allowed its currency to move in
and out of the country freely and to be traded.
Malaysia accepted that the value of its own currency
should no longer be determined by the Malaysian
Government. For a long time nothing untoward happened.
Then currency traders emerged who treated currency as a
commodity. They devised a trading system which enabled
them to fix the exchange rates in order to give them
unlimited profits. With this ability they can enrich or
impoverish any country at will. They thus become more
powerful than national Governments.
13. Malaysia was relatively prosperous when we were
attacked. Suddenly we found our wealth diminishing as
the currency traders devalued our currency. Our initial
inability to counter the attacks of the currency traders
clearly showed that we have not understood what is meant
by globalisation and the consequences of giving up
control over our own currency. Learning the lesson has
been very costly to us.
14. Globalisation takes many forms. When we agreed to
globalisation we thought that we would be able to share
the wealth and the technology of the rich. But the rich
are really thinking about how globalisation would enable
them to exploit the untapped resources of the poor,
using their huge capital and their sophisticated
technology. The attack on the currencies of countries
like Malaysia is just one example of how they see
globalisation. Even if in exploiting the poor to enrich
themselves they cause more poverty and misery, as long
as it is globalisation it is considered fair and proper
by them. We may not reject globalisation or even modify
it even though we are being destroyed by it.
15. Currency speculation and stock market raids are
just the beginning. We can be assured that newer
interpretations of globalisation will be made which will
open up newer ways for the exploitation of the poor by
the rich.
16. Islam stresses a balance between materialism and
spiritualism, between life in this world and the next.
The loss of spiritual values in the West has resulted in
unbridled materialism. Money is the most important
thing in life. Magazines and newspapers and TV shows
focus endlessly on money and how to make yet more money.
Spiritual values and religion are regarded as pass.. As
a result money is literally worshipped. Nothing must
get in the way of acquiring more money. If economies
have to be devastated, people killed, children starved -
- that is perfectly alright because the objective is to
make more money, billions and trillions of dollars.
17. Currency trading has destroyed the economies of
whole regions, impoverished millions, destabilised
Governments. But because money is being made by the
currency traders the destruction is acceptable. The
free market must not be obstructed. The market knows
best. It will regulate itself. It will certainly rein
itself in if it sees itself destroying the very source
of its profits. Unfortunately by the time the market
realises the damage it is doing to itself, massive
damage has already been done, damage which will take
many years to repair. But that again is alright. The
market will learn this with experience.
18. During the present turmoil all that the market has
learnt is that there are other markets to be exploited
once the present one has been destroyed. Until the
whole world has been destroyed, there is no real
necessity to rein in. And so those in a position to
curb the exploitation will do nothing. After all they
are not only not affected, they are actually profiting
from the destruction that is wrought.
19. In the meantime the developing Muslim countries are
struggling to cope with modern ideologies and systems of
Government. We are trying hard to make democracy work.
As soon as we succeed the goal-post is moved, democracy
is reinterpreted. And we find ourselves unable to cope
with the even more liberal interpretations of democracy.
20. Some of us have opted to remain with our old
systems. This we are permitted to do if we pose no
problems for the developed West. A few of us have tried
to be innovative in our own way. We devise our own
philosophies and systems but unfortunately it has not
helped us to compete with the developed West. We are
harassed by them and locked in so that we become
paralysed and impotent.
21. Our Group, the D-8 is attempting to cope with a
world which has become as threatening as when the Muslim
empires were under siege. We are really ill-prepared to
cope with the threats that we face. We really have no
time for personal ambitions and petty quarrels. We must
look at the world from the point of view of the ummah as
a whole. There is only one reason for us to be
together, to talk to each other -- and that is because
we see benefit in working together, in helping each
other, in recognising our mutual responsibility.
22. All is not lost yet. We do have assets and
intrinsic strength. We need to recognise and audit
them. And thus we should work out how we can put them
to joint use.
23. There are enough skills and intellect in the Muslim
World. They are now applying their gifts elsewhere
because we cannot provide them with the facilities they
need. We have to bring them back, we have to create an
environment that is attractive to them, conducive to
their work. They can help us rebuild our nations, catch
up with the rest of the world. Insya Allah, God
Willing, with their help and our dedication to Islam and
the honour of the Muslim ummah, we will triumph
eventually.
Source : Prime Minister's Office
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