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Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR.
MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : THE PALACE OF THE GOLDEN HORSES
KUALA LUMPUR
Tarikh/Date : 27/06/2000
Tajuk/Title : THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE 27TH
ISLAMIC CONFERENCE OF
FOREIGN MINISTERS (ICFM)
On behalf of the Government and people of
Malaysia, I have great pleasure in extending a warm
welcome to all delegates to the 27th Session of the
Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers (ICFM) in Kuala
Lumpur. I hope that you will have a pleasant stay and
a fruitful meeting here.
2. I am particularly honoured to be given the
opportunity to address this august gathering and to
officially declare open the 27th Session of the ICFM
this morning.
3. The theme of the Conference, Islam and
Globalisation, is most timely as Muslim countries,
members of the OIC and Muslims in general, prepare to
face the challenges of globalisation in the new
millennium.
4. Permit me to say a few words about globalisation,
a concept which is already here with us and one which
Malaysia has had the misfortune to experience lately
and has found that it is not as it is made out to be a
system and concept that is supposed to enrich the world
including developing countries like us. On the
contrary the financial system of the globalised world
almost bankrupted us, almost made us paupers and
beggars, almost placed us under the direction of
foreign powers whose agenda is not the same as ours and
certainly is not Islamic.
5. But before talking about globalisation
specifically, may I point out that to prepare ourselves
for the challenges of the future we have firstly to
audit the present and study the past. I am sure that
if we do so we will be able to avoid the mistakes of
the present and the past and be able to handle the
future with a greater degree of skill. History has
shown over and over again that the mistakes we make
through the ages are rather similar and as a result we
keep on paying the same price. We never seem to learn.
6. Let us take tribal fanaticism for example. When
Islam came to the Arabs they were a divided people with
fanatical loyalty to their tribes. And because of this
they were never at peace and they remained the most
backward people. Islam united them and stopped their
endless tribal wars. And they became the most powerful
people able to spread the message of Islam from China
in the East to Spain in the West, from the frigid
regions of the Central Asian steppes to the lush
forests of Tropical Asia and Africa. In the process a
huge Muslim Empire and civilisation was built.
7. Adhering to the teachings of Islam to seek
knowledge, the early Muslims took over the sciences,
the mathematics, the arts of previous civilisations,
developed and expanded them until the Muslim
civilisation which developed became the most learned,
knowledgeable, advanced and the most powerful. In
Muslim countries industries were started which produced
the best products from steel and other metals, timber,
glass and other raw materials. Muslims built ships
which sailed to the far corners of the world, to trade,
to settle and to proselytize. Caravans of camels,
horses and donkeys carried trade goods between the
cities of China and the cities of Europe.
8. Research in medicine put the Muslims ahead of
everyone else in this field and laid the foundation for
modern medicine. Great cities were built equipped with
great libraries and universities. Trained warriors
clad in light chain mail, defeated the heavily armoured
armies of Europe and gave protection to Muslim
countries and communities. The Muslim Empire was a
world power and Muslims were treated with respect
everywhere.
9. The civilisation that the Muslims built lasted for
many centuries and was the greatest in the history of
mankind. It seemed that it would last forever. It
seemed that Islam would be the dominant religion of the
world. Large numbers of Spanish Catholics and Chinese
Buddhists had accepted Islam and more seemed likely to
do so.
10. But the process of world Islamisation was halted
because the Muslims began to revert to their pre-
Islamic ways. They began to quarrel and fight each
other, setting up little kingdoms, rejecting their
loyalty to Islam in favour of loyalty to their local
rulers and states. They became engrossed with the
interpretations and formulation of Islamic laws and
they quarreled over who was right and who was wrong.
Each tried to outdo the others in their religious
fervour. They rejected the pursuit of knowledge other
than those concerned purely with the Islamic religion.
And they failed to notice the changes that were taking
place in Europe, changes brought about by the knowledge
the Europeans acquired from the Muslims, changes which
later led to the Industrial Revolution.
11. And so when the Industrial Age came the Muslims
had no part in it. In fact they rejected it as the
creation of the Devil. Muslim industries regressed,
their hand crafted products unable to challenge those
of Europe. The unfortunate thing is that the Muslims
faced a need to use the products of Western industries.
Certainly they needed the modern weapons that the West
developed.
12. The Quran had enjoined on the Muslims to be
prepared to frighten and fight their foes with war
steeds and the weapons of defence. Preoccupied with
their endless debates regarding Islamic laws and
practices, the Muslims neglected their defences
completely. No people can defend themselves if they
have to procure their weapons from their enemies. Over
time the Muslim armies weakened and their territories
fell into non-Muslim hands one by one.
13. The Spanish re-conquered Spain and expelled the
Muslims to Africa. Even there they were not safe. The
Spaniards followed them, conquered their lands and
placed them under Spanish rule.
14. In Eastern Europe, the Empire of the Ottomans went
through the same process. Neglecting the quest for
knowledge and failing to realise the impact of the
Industrial Revolution which had made powerhouses of the
European nations; concerned whether the European
trousers and peak caps were Islamic or not, the Great
Turkish Empire became unable to defend itself.
Instigated by the British and the French, the Arab
subjects of the Turkish Empire collaborated with the
enemies of Islam to liberate themselves from Turkish
rule. And when the dust settled on the remains of the
Turkish Muslim Empire, the Arabs found that they had
exchanged Turkish rule for British and French rule.
Even Turkey proper came under Greek rule and could have
remained so till today.
15. The lessons that should be learnt from the history
of the Muslim people and the Muslim Empire are many.
Certainly the first would be that Islamic brotherhood
as enjoined by Islam is the sine qua non of survival
and success. Certainly there is a need to read i.e. to
study to seek knowledge. This was the first sentence
that was given to Muhamad s.a.w. At that time what was
there for Muhamad to read except the writings of those
scholars before Islam. To read was to study and as we
know the early Muslim scholars studied the writings of
the Greeks and the other ancient scholars. And because
they followed the injunctions of Islam, the early
Muslims were learned and skillful in the conduct of war
and peace and succeeded in spreading the teachings of
Islam and winning adherents and territories.
16. But if we look at the present it is quite clear
that we have learnt nothing from our past. We, the
Muslims are far from being brothers. Today we are more
divided than ever. Many of our countries are at war
with each other. And within each country we are also
unable to unite, to set up strong progressive
Governments. If we practise democracy at all we use
Islam to divide rather than to unite and we weakened
ourselves and our Governments.
17. As to the quest for knowledge, clearly we are
behind the rest of the world. Knowledge other than
Islamic knowledge, is condemned by many of us as
secular and we are urged to reject them. Some of us
have to emigrate in order to acquire knowledge and as a
result others benefit from the skills our people
developed.
18. And because of this we cannot develop our
countries, we cannot industrialise, we cannot compete
with even the newer developed countries. Even the
exploitation of our natural wealth depends on others.
19. Now the Industrial Age is giving way to the
Information Age. Non-Muslims see opportunities from
the new technologies and are busy exploiting them.
Their industrial hegemony is being amplified many times
by their dominance in the application of information.
20. They have introduced the idea of a world without
borders, of a global nation. Their propaganda machine
has ensured that this idea is universally accepted.
Not to accept it would make us out to be recalcitrant,
out-dated, living in the past. And so we Muslims are
forced to join the chorus in praise of globalisation.
21. Do we know what we are accepting? We may know
something but certainly not fully.
22. In all humility I would like to claim that
Malaysia knows a little more than most other Muslim
countries. But what we know, and what we have
experienced have made us wary about the great promises
made by the advocates of globalisation.
23. I doubt that we can reverse the process but
knowing the idea, the concept and what it can and has
done to us has made us more cautious and helped us to
prepare ourselves for the challenges that will come in
the name of globalisation.
24. As I said Malaysia has had some bitter experience
with the borderless world. Merely by devaluing our
currency we can be made so poor that we may be forced
to compromise our independence. Many would have
thought that under such threat, we the Muslims of this
country, would have closed ranks to defend ourselves.
But instead a large section of the Muslims in Malaysia
are too preoccupied with the quest for power to
appreciate the gravity of the situation or to be
thankful that we have been able to fend off an attempt
to colonise us.
25. We Malaysians have barely managed to extricate
ourselves this time. But that has only made our people
more complacent and in fact less appreciative of their
good fortune. And so we remain divided and will get
progressively weaker. And the old story of Muslim
disunity and concern over minor differences in the
practice of Islam will continue to frustrate our
attempts to achieve `hassanah' in this world.
26. The most significant change brought about by
Information Technology is the Internet. Suddenly new
ways of doing everything has become possible. The
spread of knowledge is now unstoppable. But
information is not always about knowledge. It is also
about muck and filth and unmitigated lies spread by
people wishing to undermine the development of human
society, including the Muslim `ummah'.
27. You may be surprised to know that 50 per cent of
the business transactions on the Internet is about
pornography. While we Muslims cover up our bodies in
pious obedience to our religion, we are being tempted
to download the filthiest pictures, still and moving,
from the Internet. Our morals, those of our children,
the future generations are being subverted so that the
profession of Islam will become meaningless. And we do
not know enough about the technology or the methods to
counter this.
28. In business direct consumer to supplier communication has
resulted in direct sales and delivery. Where before goods were
imported in bulk by trading houses and distributed through local
retailers, now goods come in small parcels direct to consumers
from dot-com companies 12,000 miles away. The importers,
distributors and retailers are all by-passed and will be largely
wiped out. Governments can no longer collect import duties or
corporate taxes. What will happen to our businesses, our workers
and our Governments is not difficult to imagine.
29. In anticipation of the opening up of the markets of the
world by the WTO, the banks and the industries of the rich
industrialised nations are ganging up. Mergers and acquisitions
have made them so big that sovereign states are comparable only
to a department of these giant corporations. They will be able
to swallow up all the tiny banks, industries and businesses that
we possess. In the end we will become like the banana republics
where the managers of the plantations are more powerful than the
Presidents of these countries. At that stage, de facto we will
no longer be independent. The situation which prevailed in the
first half of the last century will return.
30. These are some of the things that can come with
globalisation. Is Islam or the Muslims prepared to
prevent these things from happening? The answer is a
resounding no. We were not able to face the challenges
of the Industrial Age. We are even less able to face
the Information Age. Technologically backward and
economically poor we will slide further and further
into depending on others for everything that we need.
And we will be bullied and harassed and divided against
ourselves. We will not be much of a part of the
governance of the global nation, of that we can be
certain.
31. In frustration some of our people, or even some of
the Muslim nations, will resort to indiscriminate and
wild acts. We will be called terrorists and our
countries condemned as the bases for terrorist attacks.
What we achieve with such acts will be nothing more
than minor irritations. But the punishment they will
mete out to us will be terrible for all our people. We
will then get angry with each other and our brave
people will attack us because we fail to fight for the
Muslims as they claim they are fighting. But we know
that with our present capacity, our total dependence on
arms from the very people who oppress us; we know that
open war against those who oppress us would achieve
nothing. At this very moment they can, if they want
to, wipe out the Muslims and their countries from the
surface of this earth. If they haven't done so it is
not because they care for us.
32. It seems that in the globalised world of the
Information Age we are going to be even worse off than
we were in the Industrial Age. It seems that the best
thing for us to do is to turn our backs on this world
for surely we will find our kingdom in the next.
33. I am not sure that we will. I am not sure that the
`akhirat' will be ours to enjoy. I think that by failing to
develop the Muslim countries, by failing to defend them and the
Muslim people, we are committing even greater sins which our
personal devotion to the daily rituals of our faith will not
absolve us. If this world is for others then why did the early
Muslims learn the arts and the sciences and skills of war and so
spread the religion worldwide. It would have been better for
them if they had only ensured their place in the next world
instead of entering into worldly struggles to spread the
teachings of Islam. If they had believed like present day
Muslims many of us in this room would not be Muslims today.
Praise be to Allah, Alhamdulillah, the early Muslims followed the
true teachings of Islam.
34. Everyday we pray for `hassanah' in this world and in the
next. Never do we pray for `hassanah' in the next world only.
This world is not created by Allah for the non-believers only;
this world is not created so the believers would be backward,
dishonoured and oppressed. This world is for us also. The
`hassanah' for us in this world should not be less than in the
next, even though the next is permanent. But we have to work for
it. We are at the beginning of the Information Age, of
globalisation. We are not too far behind. We can if we want to
catch up now. If we wait they will be too far ahead and it will
be too late again.
35. We are all good Muslims but it is too much to
expect us to unite suddenly, to look upon each other as
brothers, despite all our pious pronouncements on the
brotherhood of Islam. But at least we can all learn to
understand and fear the grave danger that we will face
with a borderless world and to reduce the divisiveness
between us, the divisiveness within and between our
countries.
36. We can all learn the new sciences and
technologies. While we must not ignore the teachings
of our religion, must not fail to perform our personal
rituals, but we must always remember that Islam enjoins
upon us to seek knowledge, to prepare to defend
ourselves, the `ummah' and the religion of Islam.
Enough of us must be assigned to the acquisition of the
necessary knowledge and skills of the Information Age
so as to enable us to catch up with out detractors and
enemies. Our people are not in any way inferior nor
are we short in terms of numbers. It is only a
question of planned redeployment of our human
resources. In Malaysia today many of our most talented
children are being deliberately kept away from
acquiring modern knowledges because of the belief that
only the study of religion will gain merit for the
children, the parents and the do-gooders. They have
apparently never heard of `fardu kifayah' and the
worldly needs of the Muslim `ummah'.
37. It is going to be an uphill task. The opposition
to the effort will come from Muslims themselves,
Muslims who fear they will lose their influence and
authority over the Muslim `ummah' if members of their
community are more learned. There will be accusations
that those who focus on modern knowledge are secular
and unIslamic. Muslim countries will accuse each other
of not being Islamic enough. And they will subvert and
fight each other because of their differences.
38. Believe me, our detractors and enemies are not
concerned as to how Muslim we are. To them we are all
Muslims, their enemies and potential terrorists and
they will do their very best to weaken us and in many
instances to destroy us. It serves their cause to see
us quibble over our Islamic credentials and they will
encourage the divisions among us and within us. They
will directly or indirectly support the violent
extremists among us and the orthodox who reject the
knowledge and skills with which to defend ourselves.
39. The solution is with us and between us. We can
choose to carry on with our petty rivalries or we can
together or even separately turn to face the real
threat to Islam. It is well within our power and
capability to promote and defend the cause of Islam
and the `ummah'. If we chose not to, we shouldn't
blame others. We the Muslims are to blame. Allah has
given us guidance in the Al-Quran and Hadith. Allah
has sent his Prophet Muhamad s.a.w. to unite and set us
on the right path. But it is we who chose to ignore
the words of Allah.
40. I dare to hope that this meeting of Foreign
Ministers of the OIC countries will recognise the
danger and the challenges posed by globalisation, and
recognising them, take the first step towards reducing
the divisions between us and focusing our attention on
the acquisition of knowledge to combat the use of
Information Technology to destroy our values, our faith
and the remains of our civilisation. May Allah
Subhanahu wa Ta'ala in His infinite wisdom and mercy
give us `taufik and hidayah' so that we no longer stray
from His religion and destroy ourselves.
41. With that hope and prayer I declare open this momentous
conference of the Foreign Ministers of the OIC countries.
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