Oleh/By : DATO SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : BOAO, HAINAN PROVINCE, CHINA
Tarikh/Date : 27-02-2001
Tajuk/Title : THE OFFICIAL LAUNCHING OF THE
BOAO FORUM FOR ASIA
Versi : ENGLISH
Penyampai : PM
I would like to compliment and thank President Jiang
Tse Min and the Government of the People's Republic of
China for conceiving this idea of an Asian Forum where
Asian leaders, past and present, can come together to
discuss and debate and hopefully to give birth to new
ideas on matters concerning Asia and also the world.
2. The forum is especially timely as the world is going
through one of its periodical revolutions which puts many
communities under tremendous stress and strain. We have
already seen how perfectly healthy economies can crumble
merely by the currency traders devaluing their currencies.
We believe that it is only the beginning. Many more
things are coming as old ideas about sovereignty and
independence make way for such previously unthinkable
concepts as a world without borders, of globalisation.
Then there is democracy which becomes more and more
liberal everyday and is very disruptive, even leading to
virtual anarchy.
3. When countries became independent they believed
that they would be free to manage their own affairs by
themselves. Foreign countries may not interfere in the
internal affairs of independent countries. But they
did not reckon with the power of the international
media or with the Non-Government Organisations (NGOs).
These are not bound by the understanding that
Governments may not interfere in the internal affairs
of other countries. The international media and the
foreign-funded NGOs easily cross borders and often
undermine national Governments to the point where they
would find themselves unable to govern or be overthrown
even. Of course the media and the NGOs claim they were
justified in doing this. Weren't these Governments
oppressive and corrupt? Without outside help their
people would not be able to overthrow them. But then
once people get the idea that they can overthrow
Governments, even elected Governments, they would not
stop overthrowing them. The result is not better
Government but probably a series of ineffective
Governments or anarchy.
4. What the International media and the NGOs have
done is to prove that independence does not mean
freedom from foreign interference, domination or
hegemony. Once such interference become common, the
powerful countries felt free to ignore international
niceties and to interfere openly in the affairs of weak
countries. The excuse given at first was violation of
human rights but now it has been extended to bad
governance, to failures to adopt prescribed business
practices, to less than acceptable level of democratic
practices, etc. Any excuse is good enough.
5. Actually today the independence of nations is a
mockery. Weak nations cannot expect to manage their
own affairs freely. They must submit to international
scrutiny and even to international management. At that
stage there is no independence any more.
6. Perhaps the loss of independence is a good thing.
But it does seem that independence is a function of
strength. If a country is strong it can do what it
likes, it can even attack and kill people and yet it
will remain independent. But if it is weak, even when
it is doing the right thing, it may be accused of all
kinds of misdemeanours and would be placed under the
surveillance and control of the strong.
7. In the countries of the strong private citizens
may set up "watch committees" to oversee the behaviour
of weak countries. That they have no mandate from
anyone does not put them off. They consider it their
divine duty to right the wrongs of the world. And
frequently their public pronouncements undermine the
economic, political and social stability of whole
nations. The people of these countries suffer as they
would have no means to seek redress.
8. Many of the Asian countries are quite defenceless
and exposed. When the currency traders destroyed their
economy they could appeal to no one for help. Indeed
if any country offered help, that country would be
chastised and told to cease helping. It would
undermine the IMF. Clearly the IMF wanted to use the
currency crisis to foist its policies on the troubled
countries and to control them.
9. Now globalisation is on its way. In preparation
for the borderless world the giant banks and
corporations of the very rich are merging to form even
mightier giants. Obviously when the weak countries are
forced to open their borders these giants will come in
to compete with their puny local counterparts. There
can be no doubt as to the results. The domestic banks
and corporations will go under. Eventually the world
will have only a few international giant banks and
multinational corporations. They will be so highly
capitalised and powerful that the Governments of the
third world countries will be totally dominated by
them.
10. They will then compete among themselves or they
will continue to acquire the competitors or to merge
again. They will not confine themselves to specific
industries but will diversify. In the end there will
be only a few banks and corporations left. They will
operate worldwide and they will insist that Governments
meet their demands for total deregulation so as to
remove all obstacles to their pursuit of unlimited
profits.
11. Frightened, Governments of the powerful countries
may try to curb these giants, to break them up. But
even the powerful Governments are not going to be able
to do this. The powerful corporations and banks will
wield so much influence that Governments, however
powerful, will have to bow to them. The media which
they own and the NGOs which they finance will back
them. Remember the LTCM and how it was bailed out. No
one was punished for nearly destroying the finances of
the rich countries.
12. Perhaps I have painted too grim a picture of a
globalised free trade world. Surely the corporations
and the banks do not have this ambition in mind. But
when the Bretton Woods Agreement was discarded and the
currencies allowed to float, no one predicted that in
1997 a handful of currency traders could wield so much
power over so many countries. No one predicted that
the currency traders could impoverish whole regions,
throw millions out of jobs, provoke violence and cause
the fall of Governments. But we do know now that they
could and they did.
13. Politicians are not the only people who yearn for
power. Business people can have the same yearning too.
14. There is a need for us to imagine the worst
scenario and to be prepared to deal with it. We do not
want to see a repeat of the currency turmoil when the
Asian countries were caught by surprise and went down
like ninepins.
15. It may be coincidental that the currency traders
are almost all non-Asians. It may also be coincidental
that the countries they damaged the most were Asians.
But coincidental or not, what is certain is that Asians
are too naive and trusting. They never bothered to
study the possible danger to themselves from the system
of floating rates and the free trade that they had so
readily accepted.
16. While we should welcome the revolutionary concepts
and ideas that we are being introduced to, we should
also study closely the implications and the dangers
that will come along with them. The frightening
picture that I have just painted may be too fanciful.
But free trade can have frightening consequences which
for small nations can be very destructive. Even the
mere lowering or abolishing of import duties may result
in depleted treasuries for countries which have no
other worthwhile taxes. Income and corporate taxes or
value added tax are not reliable sources of revenue for
the Governments of poor countries.
17. What the Asian countries need is a forum to air
these problems and fears and to receive serious and
sympathetic hearing. They need to discuss new ideas
thoroughly. They need to do serious studies and to
work out different scenarios. From the results they
should make their common stand in international fora.
I believe the Boao Forum can do this and more. The
Boao Forum can be of great service to Asians and to the
world in the challenging years of the 21st Century.
18. Because of that we must also look at positive
ideas which can result from the meeting of Asian
leaders, leaders who naturally are close to the
problems and the state of affairs in Asia.
19. We know that there are large numbers of people in
Asia who are living from hand to mouth. Many Asians
countries are terribly poor. There really is no reason
why some people should be obscenely rich while so many
live in abject poverty. There is even less reason for
people to be poor when the world of today, the world of
high technology and high added value is so very rich.
Obviously there is something wrong with the
redistribution of wealth across the world. It does not
reflect a world which has been reduced to a village.
In a village we share everything fairly.
20. In the early years of the UN there was a sincere
wish to help the poor. But we know that the approach
adopted was not successful. Foreign aid was misspent
and loans simply made permanent debt slaves of the poor
countries. As a result the rich have reneged on their
promises and the poor have become poorer. Or the rich
will extend aid for the purpose of furthering their own
agenda.
21. Yet today there is an even greater need for the
poor to be helped. If making available funds or loans
is not productive, then the International community
should just build needed infrastructure for the poor.
22. We know that adequate and relevant infrastructure
can facilitate the development of countries. The mere
construction of infrastructure can provide jobs and
contracts for the locals. Construction of roads and
railroads will help land-locked countries reduce the
cost of transportation of raw material out and the
imports of needed manufactured goods. The benefits of
power plants need not be enumerated. The great rivers
can be developed for cheap transportation the way the
Rhine and the Danube have been developed. Pipelines
can not only be for oil and gas but also for water from
melting snow in the north to the arid deserts of the
South.
23. Ports and airports are also much needed facilities
for the poor countries but they will never be able to
afford these on their own.
24. Today's IT economy can only be beneficial if there
are computers and other equipment available. If is
ironical that the rich can make their costs lower with
IT when the poor must continue to bear higher costs
because they cannot afford the necessary computers and
equipment.
25. The cost of infrastructure is very high. The poor
cannot possibly build all these by themselves. The
current foreign development aid would also be
inadequate. A new reliable source of funds must be
found.
26. It is normal in any country practising market
economy for the rich to be taxed and the poor to
benefit from the expenditure of the revenue collected
by the Government. It is time the world thinks of
taxing the rich countries on a sliding scale in order
to gather sufficient funds to finance the construction
of infrastructure in the poor countries. The basis of
the assessment can be worked out and agreed upon. So
can the agency which will collect and administer the
revenue and implement the projects be agreed upon. Of
course the agency must be elected democratically by the
UN and so must the international civil servants be
chosen. No one country should dominate.
27. The rich might question the moral or legal basis
for taxing them. But they had insisted that poor
countries should open up their economies for them to
exploit. Of course they are going to argue that the
flow of capital into the poor countries would be
beneficial for them. I am not so sure. Malaysia's
experience is that capital can also flow out and when
they do this rapidly the economy can collapse. In any
case the globalisation of the world will profit the
rich mostly.
28. Even the expenditure on infrastructure development
from the tax on the rich will benefit the rich also.
Only they have the know-how, the machines and the
trained experts to carry out the projects. They will
therefore get back a good portion of the money they
paid for the world infrastructure tax. But beyond that
when the poor countries become richer they will provide
excellent markets for the goods and services of the
rich. It will be a win-win affair.
29. The UN as we all know is in need of reforms but we
know that this is not going to happen. The
fundamentals of the UN structure will resist change for
obvious reasons. But what I have suggested is
peripheral and minor. It will cost the rich really
very little yet it will bring about tremendous benefits
to the poor. Certainly it will enrich them a little.
30. There will be no debt for the poor to pay and
neither will they be able to misuse their funds. The
infrastructure projects can be decided and implemented
by an International body which will be guided by
experts.
31. There can be no doubt that this tax on the rich
countries will help spread the wealth to the poor.
Since part of the wealth of the rich comes from the
exploitation of the resources of the poor, it is only
fitting that they return some of it to the poor.
32. In the 21st century serious efforts must be made
to eliminate poverty throughout the world. In Malaysia
there is practically no absolute poverty. Even
relative poverty is minimal. China, Japan and Korea
have been able on their own to reduce or eradicate
poverty. But for many countries of the world there is
no hope that they can, on their own, eradicate poverty
in their midst. Foreign aid has failed. So have
foreign loans. Only an International Infrastructural
Development Programme funded through an International
tax and confining itself to building needed
infrastructures can overcome the poverty of these
nations and the poverty of their people.
33. When I first heard of a globalised borderless
world I thought it was ridiculous. If Malaysia has no
borders then it would not be independent. It would not
be able to collect import duties. It would not be able
to protect its fledging industries, its tiny banks and
businesses.
34. We had struggled long and hard to gain
independence after 450 years of foreign rule. We have
become independent only about 40 years. Now we are
being told to literally give up our independence.
35. We were told that a borderless Malaysia would be
good for us. This was before the currency traders
robbed us. We were not convinced then and we are
certainly not convinced now. But what can we do? We
helped create the World Trade Organisation after the
frustrating rounds of the GATT talks. Now we must make
good our undertaking to the WTO. We must accept
globalisation and a borderless Malaysia.
36. If Malaysia can accept globalisation and being
borderless, certainly the rich countries of the world
can and should accept the idea of an International tax
in order to help the poor of the world.
37. But first of all we the Asians, largely poor, must
accept the idea. Japan is the only rich country among
us but Japan has always been more generous than all the
other rich countries. I don't think Japan is going to
reject this idea. We should at least agree to discuss
this world infrastructure tax. One day we together
must push for its adoption by the world, by the UN.
38. As I said the world is never as rich as it is
today. It is immoral that in a world so rich there
should be people and countries which are so
distressingly poor.
39. A globalised world, actually a world nation,
should not let the rich exploit the opening up of the
borders of countries without exacting payment. A world
nation would be meaningless if the rich can make more
money but are exempted from taxes. Just imagine if one
day this world must go to war with another planet.
Wouldn't we think of everyone becoming involved in the
defence of the world? If everyone including the poor
must take up arms, shouldn't they be entitled to a bit
of the wealth of this world?
40. This forum should be tasked with the study of
globalisation and a borderless world, of democracy and
human rights, of good governance, of corruption and
cronyism and all the new ideas which we Asians are
expected to accept and to practise. We should study
them critically because they are not perfect and they
need to be improved. We should be prepared to correct,
modify or even reject them if we think that they would
do us and anyone something bad.
41. Asians have a right to think for themselves. They
should not be passive receptacles for non-Asian ideas.
They must put up their ideas with righteousness and
confidence. We Asians are not bereft of wisdom and
innovativeness. Our ideas are every bit as good as
anyone else's. They can be good not only for ourselves
but for the world as well.
42. Long ago we gave the world their religions and the
wisdom of Confucius, Tagore and others. It cannot be
that today we are totally lacking in wisdom and bereft
of solutions for the ailments of mankind. I am sure
that even within this hall there are brilliant minds
capable of shaping a greater future for mankind.
43. We should not reject the ideas and ideologies of
the non-Asians of course. But we must remember that
they are never perfect, that in the end they would be
rejected by the very people who formulated them. If
they can ignore their failures and come back with new
ideas which they again claim to be perfect, why should
Asians be shy of formulating Asian ideas on the
governance of mankind?
44. It is the height of arrogance for anyone to claim
their values alone are universal values. Our Asian
values too can be, and probably are universal values.
We must stake a claim and prove it.
45. Asia and Asians have a great future in the 21st
century. We are not going to dominate the world. The
21st century will be the century of the world. But
Asians must play a big role in the creation of this
century of the world.
46. This forum may discuss more mundane things but it
will only make its mark if from its meeting and
discussions, great ideas emerge, ideas which will be as
world shattering as those of the ancient sages of our
past.
Sumber : Pejabat Perdana Menteri
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