Oleh/By : DATO SERI DR MAHATHIR BIN MOH
Tempat/Venue : JUMEIRAH BEACH HOTEL DUBAI,
UNITED ARAB EMIR
Tarikh/Date : 26-04-2001
Tajuk/Title : THE EMIRATES INTERNATIONAL FORUM
Versi : ENGLISH
Penyampai : PM
" MEETING THE CHALLENGES OF THE 21ST CENTURY:
ROLE OF MUSLIM NATIONS "
I would like to thank His Highness Sheikh Maktoum
bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Prime Minister, and also the
organisers of this conference for the invitation to
give a talk on a subject that is of great interest to
the Malaysian Government and I believe to a lot of
Muslim Governments and Muslim people. This subject has
taken on an aura of urgency because the world is
changing fast, physically, technologically and in terms
of ideas and concepts on human relations, human rights,
and the relations between the peoples of the world and
between their countries. There is no way we can
isolate ourselves from the rest of the world, nor erect
barriers against our neighbours. Borders are being
made irrelevant both physically and philosophically.
We cannot anymore prevent others including our enemies
from crossing our borders. If their armies cannot
cross, their ideas and their creed can, with impunity.
And these ideas and creed are as effective in
subverting and hegemonising as were their armies and
occupation forces in the past.
2. Remember it did not take a full war of conquest to
put practically the whole Muslim world under Western
rule. They easily used the Muslims themselves,
including the religious extremists and nationalists who
claimed to be fighting for Islam, to ensure the success
of their conquests.
3. In the aftermath of the Second World War they gave
up their Empires, including their Muslim colonies. It
was not an act of generosity. It was not because they
had ceased to be acquisitive. It was simply because
they were fighting each other; the Western Bloc and the
Eastern Bloc and they feared rebellions and defections.
4. Now they are not divided anymore. One bloc has
triumphed and triumphed completely. They no longer
fear defection to the other side. There is no more
other side. There is therefore no more reason to
placate anyone. They must re-establish their dominance
over the world. As it happened it is the dominance of
the capitalists.
5. Military conquest is wasteful and costly,
especially in terms of the lives they may lose. But
conquest can be by other means, equally effective, but
less costly. Indeed it can be profitable right from
the word go. By all means have the military back-up,
have the capacity to instil fear of their destructive
powers. But use other means that are available.
6. Today's other means is economic strength, money in
short. Use money to undermine nationalism and to
dominate. And back it with ideas; ideas which are so
powerful that even those steeped in religion and the
values and culture that it creates, will not be able to
resist or to reject these semi-religions.
7. The most powerful ideas originating from the West
are democracy and human rights. Along with these have
come the ideas of one world, of globalisation, of a
world without borders. Who do you think will rule this
single world? Certainly not us, the Muslims. Yes, we
will be told we will have a share but that would be
pure lip-services. We, along with the other peoples of
the South will be the subject people, working to enrich
and to empower the rich North more and more fully, more
and more permanently.
8. After we Muslims have received the message of
Islam, the only new ideas which have come our way have
all come from the rich North. Our faith has been
assailed with such ideas and ideologies as
Republicanism, Capitalism, Socialism, Communism and a
lot of others. If we care to examine all these so-
called perfect solutions to the woes of human society
we will find that eventually they all prove to be
failures, that the very people who conceive and espouse
them would lose their faith and enthusiasm and that
finally they would be discarded as harmful. But while
they were enamoured with these ideas they would not
hesitate to force them upon the world, by every means
at their disposal.
9. The same thing will one day happen to democracy.
The idea will be embellished, enlarged, reinterpreted
again and again. All and sundry must embrace democracy
as the perfect system for the good of mankind. And
then one day they will become disillusioned, will see
the faults in it increasingly and will finally reject
this once great idea.
10. We have had no part in the formulation of these
ideas, nor with the periodical reinterpretation and
enlargement of their application. We have to react to
these ideas. Unable to reject the logic and universal
acceptance of these ideas we are forced to try and
justify them according to Islam. Quite naturally we
will fail because our religion must insist on justice
and morality and not the absolute freedom leading to
immorality now being advocated by the West.
11. Islam is faced with this ideological challenge and
the challenges of more new ideas which will come out of
the North. The capacity of Islam to come out
victorious in the ideological war is worsened by our
own insistence and emphasis on form rather than
substance. We are carried away by our interpretation
of the `Islamic' dress for example rather than the mere
need to cover our body as required by Islam. We stress
the manner with which trials should be carried out and
the punishment meted rather than the justice that Islam
promotes.
12. We talk about the need for Muslims to be strong in
defence of themselves but we eschew the study of the
sciences needed to enable us to produce modern weapons
ourselves. Instead we stress religious studies and
religious piety in order to gain merit in the next
world. In the process we neglect the injunction of
Islam to always be equipped to defend ourselves and to
put fear in the hearts of the enemy.
13. It is because we misinterpret or wrongly emphasise
the teachings of Islam, it is because we stress form
rather than substance that we Muslims find ourselves
unable to meet the challenges of the Industrial Age and
now the Information Age. We should have learnt the
lessons from our failure to participate in the
Industrial Revolution and should prepare ourselves to
participate in the Information Revolution, but we are
not.
14. Yet we Muslims are no less capable of acquiring
knowledge, of innovations and inventions, of spewing
new ideas as well as the others. We are as capable of
governing ourselves well and of growing and
strengthening our countries as anyone else. We know
what we need to do. Indeed our religion gives us all
the necessary guidance. If we are today lagging
behind, disdained and oppressed by others it is because
we have actually forsaken the true teachings of our
religion and returned to our pre-Islamic ways, feuding
with each other, closing our minds to modern knowledge
and ignoring reality, deceiving ourselves that we are
better than others when we are not.
15. Let us take just one of the most important
teachings of Islam - that all Muslims are brothers.
Can we honestly say that we behave towards each other
as brothers? We are enjoined to seek knowledge even in
China. But we are not. Instead we interpret seeking
knowledge as learning about religion only. At the time
of the Prophet could we learn about Islam in China?
Obviously the knowledge that we should seek in China is
not Islamic. Probably it was about making gunpowder,
paper, waterwheels, fine porcelain etc.
16. If we are to face the challenges of the 21st
Century, the first thing we must do is to put our own
houses in order. We have to administer our countries
well, promoting stability and economic growth, using
the wealth we generate to build needed infrastructures
and to equip ourselves with all the skills of the
Information Age and of the Industrial Age as well. We
must always be at the cutting edge of technology.
17. To do all these we need to be rational. It is
understandable that we should feel frustrated and
angry. Everywhere we see Muslims oppressed. They are
frequently massacred, their countries forced to accept
hostile foreign dominance which render them independent
only nominally. We are helpless to defend ourselves or
our Muslim brothers anywhere. We see them being shot
and killed virtually before our eyes and there is
nothing we can do about it.
18. We appeal for justice to those who talk
incessantly of justice and we see them ignoring us.
Human rights, justice, fairplay we find to be only
meaningless words and our anger overflows. In
frustration we resort to terrorism. But our
frustration only worsens because we gain nothing from
this, only more oppression.
19. We become frustrated with our own countries and
our Governments. Why cannot they do something about
the oppression and humiliation of the Muslims? We vent
our anger against our Governments by more acts of
violence and terrorism, this time directed at our own
Governments and leaders. Again we gain nothing, only
succeed in weakening ourselves further.
20. After years of indiscriminate acts of terrorism
what have we to show for the sacrifices that we made?
Nothing. We have only brought more oppression and more
painful retaliations against us. We have not advanced
our cause one iota. We and our own Governments and
countries have become weaker.
21. We want quick fixes but there are no quick
solutions to our problems. And most of us refuse to
believe in the truth of this, in the reality of our
failures. We just do not seem able to learn.
22. If we are going to meet the Challenges of the 21st
Century, we should pause now and take stock. And
having done that calmly and dispassionately we should
then set out to plan for our future; not the next year,
not the next decade, but the whole century and more for
that is how long it will take to achieve any degree of
success.
23. First of all we must go back to the true teachings
of Islam, to the al-Quran and the `Hadis'. These
teachings had obviously converted the ignorant desert
Arabs into a brave and talented people who were able to
build in less than 100 years a huge empire extending
from Spain in the West to China in the East, to build
the greatest civilisation the world had ever seen. If
Islam could do these for the `Jahiliah', the ignorant
ones, there is no reason why it cannot do the same for
us now. We are not as ignorant as those feuding Arab
tribes.
24. The truth is that we have deviated from the
teachings of Islam, we have at times actually rejected
it in practical terms. We have grossly abused it.
Thus, when we are told to be brothers and to fight only
those not of the faith who make us their enemies, we
now fight `jihads' against fellow Muslims, declaring
them to be infidels when we know they are not. We
should be preaching love and brotherhood of fellow
Muslims but the learned ones, the political `ulamas'
are very fond of preaching hatred of other Muslims who
do not accept their teachings and politics and urging
holy wars against them, while ignoring completely the
non-Muslim enemies who are oppressing Muslims. Indeed
by what they preach and do they are actually helping
the enemies of Islam.
25. We are enjoined by Islam to be fair and just in
the administration of our laws. But we care not for
justice and fairness as long as we uphold the process
of judgement. In some instances we advocate punishing
the victim rather than the criminal. After 1400 years
we have still not codified Islamic laws, leaving it to
the judge to refer to instances of similar crimes in
the past to pass judgement and sentence. For most
Muslim countries the due process of law have not been
institutionalised, even though Muslim jurists abound in
Muslim societies.
26. We are enjoined by the al-Quran to prepare the
means to defend Islam and the Muslim `ummah'. We are
told to maintain warhorses, swords etc. That may put
fear in the hearts of the foes of the Muslims in the
time of the Prophet. That will not work today. We
need guns and tanks, fighter planes and battleships
etc. But we are not truly capable of producing these
weapons. We may be licensed to produce them but by and
large we have to buy them, sometimes from the very
people who are our foes.
27. If we are really to put fear in their hearts and
to be able to defend ourselves then we must have the
capability to devise and produce these arms ourselves,
upgrading them to keep pace or to be ahead of the rest
of the world. To do these we must acquire the
necessary scientific and technical knowledge,
industrial skills and capacity and management know-how.
But we don't have these because we are not encouraged
by our religious leaders to acquire these knowledge and
skills. They want us to study religion instead because
this will gain us merit in the next world. That we
fail to protect the Muslims as enjoined by the al-Quran
and therefore we lose merit and we actually sin does
not seem to bother these people.
28. If we go back to the true teachings of Islam on
the need to be able to defend ourselves, we cannot but
agree on the need to acquire knowledge of the sciences
and the technologies which will enable us to design and
produce the weapons for our protection. Indeed if we
follow the teachings of Islam we must acquire all the
knowledge in all fields to ensure the well-being of the
Muslims and the safety of their countries. We should
actually be formulating and improving on all the
sciences and the skills required for a modern Islamic
state where the `ummah' is protected and where they are
free of poverty, having adequate good food, able to
clothe themselves and live in decent dwellings,
respected and even looked up to by the rest of the
world.
29. Today Muslim countries without exception are being
pressured to switch to democracy because this is the
current ideology. We must not forget that the West had
come up with many systems, ideologies and ideas which
they eventually gave up because they all failed.
30. For a long time the West was extremely feudal
believing in the Divine Rights of Kings, in the King
could do no wrong. Then they found that the Kings
abused their power and they revolted against their
Kings and set up Republics. The Republics did not work
well and they recalled their Kings. Then they
conceived the idea of democracy and majority rule,
believing that the majority would know how best they
should be ruled. But the majority oppressed the
minority.
31. Then they talk of minority rights and even the
rights of individuals. Today we are seeing the
minority and the individuals ignoring the rights of the
majority and their democracy has become immoral and
oppressive to the majority. Indeed democracy causes a
great deal of instability in many countries. Political
parties mushroom and use bribery, corruption, threats
and economic disruptions in order to fight each other.
Development cannot take place as everything is
politicised. The energy and the wealth of the whole
nation is wasted in political infighting between
numerous political parties set up for nothing more than
the furtherance of the political ambitions of various
aspirants for the highest post in the country.
32. Today democracy does not work even in the most
experienced democracies of the West. What is working
now is money, not majority will. No one can win
elections without money. The cost of campaigns is so
high that poor aspirants can get nowhere unless he is
supported by people with the money. In the end it is
the wealthy who will rule the country, not directly
perhaps, but as effectively as if they are sitting in
the Chief Executive's chair.
33. The abuses and distortions of the democratic
system will go on until one day it is discarded in
favour of a new perfect system. This is the natural
history and evolution of the various political systems
of the West. They emerge, they are embraced, they are
embellished, interpreted and reinterpreted until they
become completely different from the original. Then
they lead to abuses, more and more with the passage of
time. Then they are discarded. Thus Feudalism,
Republicanism, Socialism and Communism. Now Capitalism
is triumphant as it rides on the back of democracy.
But already the distortions are showing up. Eventually
democracy, liberalism, the free market will all be
discarded.
34. Muslim countries should not be in a hurry to
embrace democracy. We really don't understand how it
works, especially liberal democracy, and it will do us
more damage than whatever system that we practice in
our countries. It is not the system that matters. It
is good governance by good people that we need. And
feudal kings, even dictators have provided and can
provide good governance. Indeed benign kings and
dictators, conscious of their duty, adhering to the
teachings of the religion can provide better
governments than elected Presidents bent on maintaining
popularity at all costs. The only thing good about
democracy is that theoretically at least, we can change
Governments without violence.
35. Good Governments is not beyond us Muslims. We
need a professional civil service, a professional
police force and a professional defence force. They
can all be trained and installed with the right spirit
and the proper sense of duty to the nation. Rules and
regulations, rewards and punishment can be devised to
ensure that there is minimal corruption or abuse.
Systems of monitoring performances can be put in place
in order to maximise the achievements of the
Government.
36. Under a good honest leader, be he a king or a
Prime Minister or a President, helped by advisers and
experts, a country can develop to a high level. It can
become stable, peaceful, wealthy and fully able to deal
with all challenges, ideological or material. It can
become sophisticated in every way, able to compete in
every field. Being a Muslim country will not prevent
this from being achieved.
37. If the Muslim countries are going to play a role
in this century it must first establish good
Governments dedicated to developing the countries to
achieve developed country status. We are not going to
be able to do this overnight. It will take time, a lot
of time, but it is possible. Islam enjoins upon us to
be patient. There is nothing inherent in Islam or in
the Muslims to prevent them from achieving this.
38. Even as we strive towards establishing stable and
peaceful Muslim countries, we should be preparing
ourselves to deal with the challenges that will be
coming our way. We are now already in the Information
Age. It is going to transform our lives completely.
We have to accept that there is no way we can isolate
and insulate ourselves. We are going to be assailed by
information, both good and bad, and those which can
undermine our faith. We will have to strengthen our
Islamic moral strength not by appealing to blind faith
but by reason and logic. Certainly we must not try to
ignore what is happening around us. We must know that
what is bad will weaken and destroy us but what is good
will give us strength and success. And knowing this we
must resolve to reject what is bad and extol and
practice what is good as enjoined upon us by Islam.
39. Mastery of the sciences and the technologies
should be easy if we are not prevented from learning
them or harassed by the theologians. I am sure that
given the opportunity Muslim scholars will once again
dominate the world. They will not only master all the
knowledge extant but will develop new knowledge. Best
of all their faith will bring morality into the
application of the knowledge that they acquire.
40. All this while Muslims must eschew aggressiveness
and thoughtless violence. As good Muslims we must seek
peace and seek to live in peace with the rest of the
world. I am absolutely sure that the oppression of the
Muslims will cease once the Muslims and their countries
are as well developed as the best developed countries
of the world. We must of course be capable of
defending ourselves with our own weapons but they
should never be used for blatant aggression. We must
instead play a role together with other countries in
the maintenance of peace in the world.
41. Today many Muslim countries are very rich but they
are not categorised as developed. The reason is clear.
They do not have the industrial and commercial
capacities of the developed countries.
42. On the other hand there are many Muslim countries
which are extremely poor. They have mostly to depend
on the charity of the non-Muslims. Few Muslim
countries have foreign aid programmes even for Muslim
countries.
43. But should the Muslim countries succeed in
establishing good Governments and developing
themselves, they should not help only the poor Muslim
countries. Just as the non-Muslims help Muslim
countries, we should be prepared to help all poor
countries.
44. In a world that is so extremely rich, there really
should not be any poor countries. We can blame the
people of these countries for their own poverty but
blaming them will not make them rich. The rich of the
world, be they Muslims or non-Muslims, must help the
poor to enrich themselves. This is entirely possible.
We should not be proselytising but we must correct
their wrong impressions of Islam as being an
anachronism given to violent and irrational behaviours.
It is the duty of Muslims to give Islam a good image
even if it gains us nothing. But I believe it will
benefit us a lot as we seek to play a role in world
affairs in the 21st Century.
45. Muslims must make up for the mistakes in the past
which leave Islam in disrepute. We should not seek to
be accepted as partners in the building of a better
world. We should prove that it is our right as Muslims
and that our countries have as much capacity to
influence the direction of world progress as anyone
else.
46. We are being forced to accept a globalised world.
So far it is an idea crystallised and interpreted by
the West. But it is not necessary that their
interpretation is right or final. We the Muslim
countries must have a say, a big say, in the shaping of
this globalised world.
47. But we must base our stand on the logic of our
interpretation rather than merely say that it is based
on our faith. Muslims may accept the injunctions of
the religion without question but others will not. We
must put up our ideas and proposals based on logic and
reasoning and on the maximum good that it can bring to
the maximum number of people. This should not be too
difficult because globalisation as it is presently
defined will benefit only the rich few. Indeed the
richest will benefit the most and the poorest will get
even poorer. Our proposals must be more equitable and
fair, aiming at nothing less than the enriching of all
the peoples of the world, irrespective of race or
religion or geographical location.
48. This is the role that Muslim nations can play and
must in the 21st Century. While striving to establish
reasonably good relation among Muslim countries, while
striving for and adopting good governance and
developing their nations; having discarded the
senseless expressions of anger and frustrations, the
Muslim nations must help contribute towards world peace
and prosperity by adopting a rational clear-headed
policy in their relation with each other and with the
rest of the world. The Muslims and Muslim countries
must once again play the role that they played when
they built the Great Muslim Civilisation. After
achieving this or even while striving to achieve this
it is most likely that many of the problems in the
relation between Muslim and non-Muslim countries will
be resolved.
49. The challenges of the 21st Century will be many
and varied. But these challenges can be met and, if
not overcome, at least somewhat blunted if the Muslims
face them with rationality and resoluteness. In the
process the role of the Muslim countries will be
defined and recognised.
50. The 21st Century must be made the century of the
world where all and everyone, including the Muslims and
their countries will prosper and take their proper
places as equal partners. Our role is not to be
dominated or to dominate but to be equal partners in a
richer equitable world that is more rational. Insya-
Allah.
Sumber : Pejabat Perdana Menteri
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