Oleh/By : DATO SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : RENAISSANCE HOTEL, KUALA LUMPUR
Tarikh/Date : 11-06-2001
Tajuk/Title : THE INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON THE
IMPACT OF GLOBALISATION ON
THE ISLAMIC WORLD
Versi : ENGLISH
Penyampai : PM
"THE ISSUE AND CHALLENGES IN THE 21ST CENTURY"
Let me begin by extending a warm welcome to all
participants and speakers to the International Seminar
on "The Impact of Globalisation on the Islamic World:
The Issues and Challenges in the 21st Century". I hope
that you will have a pleasant stay and a fruitful
discussion here.
2. This Seminar is most timely as it addressess
current trends in globalisation and the challenges that
it has unleashed on the developing world which of
course include the Muslim world, for all of them are
developing countries, none being developed at all,
although they may be very rich.
3. Muslims must remember that they missed the
Industrial Revolution completely. While they were busy
debating whether modernisation was compatible with
Islam or not, while they were condemning each other
over trivia regarding science and religion, while they
considered for years whether electricity could be used
in mosques or not, the Europeans were busy applying
their new knowledge of things mechanical, of
engineering, of reducing human labour with machines.
They trained and reassigned their workers so as to work
in factories, developed mass production techniques,
constantly improved the quality of their products,
reduced cost and built mass markets. They improved the
speed and capacity of their transportation and captured
foreign markets. And of course they produced better
weapons and with this they put an end to the Muslim
Empire. It was the Industrial Revolution which
destroyed the Muslim Empire.
4. Now it looks like we are again going to be left
behind in the Information Revolution, a revolution that
will shrink the world and force the Muslims to be
rubbing shoulders with all kinds of people, people not
only of different religions but possessing new moral
values which are totally repugnant to the Muslims.
5. In the past we could isolate ourselves and try to
practise our religion and our values free from the
polluting influence of others. It is not possible now.
The TV and the Internet and even the telephone bring
the private lives of alien people with alien cultures
right into our homes, our bedrooms even. We may want
to force our people to reject outside influence, we may
even ban televisions and cinemas, but for how long can
we do it? The invasion of our world is already on but
it will become even more pervasive. There is no
escaping.
6. Now we have globalisation, a world without
borders. Can we keep out things if we have no borders?
Spy planes and satellites look down at us and see
everything that we do. There is really no more
privacy, and Muslims are very private people.
7. New ideas are being promoted and spread which
strike at the very foundation of our religion. Can we
deal with human rights which include freedom to choose
one's own religion? Can we deal with the right to free
access to information, including information about
other religions or distorted versions of our religion,
and pornography?
8. We see the advocates of globalisation furiously
preparing themselves to take advantage of a borderless
world market. They are all coming together, the great
banks and the giant corporations. They are acquiring
and merging and acquiring and merging again. Each one
of them is already bigger than most countries. They
can buy up countries if they want to. Certainly they
can buy our politicians.
9. They are truly powerful and very influential.
Their Governments have to do their bidding and so must
other Governments. Reducing investments, pulling out
capital, devaluing currencies, pressuring Governments
to change and to legislate in their favour and a host
of other things can be done by these giants which will
be good for them but not necessarily good for the
country in which they operate or in the world at large.
10. A globalised, borderless, deregulated world is
what the advocates of globalisation are pushing for.
How would we know when we are invaded if we have no
borders? Invasion need not take the form of armies
marching into our countries. We can be invaded by
businessmen, by banks, by corporations, by ideas and
values and moral codes which are alien to us. The
effect is the same as a military invasion. In fact it
is worse than that. Every aspect of our lives will be
invaded. Our minds will be invaded. Even our religion
will be invaded.
11. I admit I am painting a frightening picture of
globalisation. It is frightening but it is entirely
possible, unless of course the Muslim countries act in
concert and participate in the shaping of
globalisation, to redefine it, to tame it, to make it
into an ideology which can benefit us as much as the
rest of the world. We cannot reject globalisation
outright but we can influence its interpretation, we
can regulate it, we can change its pace and we can
reshape it.
12. Globalisation need not mean a borderless world.
The borders could still be there and should be
respected. With borders we can determine what can
cross and what cannot. We will not be in full control
of course. Information in all forms can cross borders
unrestricted because of modern technology. But we can
develop the software and even hardware which can keep
out at least some of the dirt which come with the
information.
13. With borders we can protect some of our industries
until they are ready to compete. We can restrict or
impose taxes on products which would compete unfairly
with our businesses. We can stop the currency
manipulators from impoverishing us at will, as they did
in East Asia in 1997-1998. With borders there are many
things we can do to sustain ourselves and to gain time
to prepare for the seemingly inevitable - a totally
deregulated globalisation.
14. There is no reason why globalisation cannot be
regulated. It is nonsense to claim that the market
will regulate itself. The market is about making
profits; not about ethics, not about disciplining
Governments. The market has shown that it is prepared
for the players to fight to the death without anyone
attempting to stop the fight. The market is not
interested in the social consequences of maximising
profits. Thus the currency traders are prepared to
destroy whole economies, throw millions out of work,
cause riots, arson and the killing of innocent people
and the overthrow of Governments, so as to make profits
which are only a minute fraction of what they had
destroyed.
15. No. The markets cannot be relied upon to regulate
itself or society or Governments. The regulation of
the market must remain the responsibility of
Governments. Governments, whether democratic or not,
must care for the whole nation; all the people and not
just the traders. If traders have to be curbed in the
greater interest of society, then the Government must
curb them with appropriate and adequate regulations and
laws.
16. Monopolies and oligopolies must be broken down.
The Muslim countries together with other developing
countries must oppose the attempts to corner the market
by setting up huge banks and corporations which prevent
any new business from starting up or growing. There
will be a price to pay of course. No doubt the huge
and capital-rich corporations can be more efficient,
reducing cost and improving quality. But we have been
able to achieve a fair degree of efficiency and the
quality of products have improved without these huge
giant corporations or banks. The process may be slower
but efficiency and quality are not static. Even with
the big corporations, research and development must be
continuous in order to improve results and products all
the time.
17. On the other hand in the absence of monopolistic
giants the small can hope to build businesses
independently, to innovate and to prosper reasonably.
The whole world's population cannot become employees
and wage-earners working for big corporations where
they are just so many cogs in the numerous wheels of
these giants.
18. Protection of local industries must be allowed, at
least until they are ready to compete with the so-
called multi-nationals. We know these multi-national
corporations are no more multi-national than are our
industries. Their labour force may be from many
nations but their ownership and their direction remains
with the very rich countries.
19. The pace of globalisation must be slowed now. It
is advancing too rapidly. The developing countries are
unable to cope even with the negotiations on World
Trade. Against the numerous experts from the rich
countries, their negotiating teams can make no headway.
Divided, the developing countries including the Muslim
countries are no match for the sophisticated arguments
of the experts representing the rich advocates of
globalisation.
20. Currency trading should be regulated and totally
transparent if at all there should be currency trading.
Currency is not a commodity which can be used as raw
material or for consumption. Currency is mere tokens
and their values are entirely artificial. Governments
are the only authority which can assign values to the
currency. Of course Governments can cause currencies
to devalue by mismanagement but it is entirely possible
for Governments to fix the exchange rate of the
currencies. An international organisation can be
created which will determine whether there should be a
change in the exchange rate or not. Many things can be
done with the International financial regime which can
stabilise exchange rate and free international trade
from uncertain exchange rates.
21. These are some of the things that can be done to
render globalisation less dangerous to the developing
countries. There are probably many more modifications
which can be made to globalisation in order to ensure
that it will benefit everyone, rich and poor, big and
small, developed and developing.
22. But while we try to change or to stall
globalisation, we cannot afford to wait for the results
of our actions. We have to be prepared to deal with
the dangers posed by globalisation and we have to learn
all about the technologies and the applications they
can offer. We cannot afford the kind of suspicions we
had entertained about industrialisation and
modernisation this time around. Of course there will
still be those who would say that worldly success is
not for us Muslims. For us the afterlife is more
important. If disaster strikes us the Almighty will
save us for we are Muslims.
23. Those who say this forget that Allah will not
change the fate of those who do not strive to change
their fate themselves. If we just make no attempt to
handle the threat posed by globalisation, if we simply
leave it to Allah's will, we really cannot expect the
Almighty to save us.
24. Unfortunately there are many Muslims in these
countries and I believe in most other Muslim countries
who will not only do nothing to save themselves but who
will actually actively try to prevent other Muslims
from taking any pre-emptive action by violently
opposing it. Since they consider that we should leave
our fate in the hands of Allah, it is strange that they
should actually be taking positive steps to prevent
Muslims from saving themselves. They should leave it
to Allah S.W.T. to stop us. But when it comes to
propagating their belief they are prepared to act and
they don't trust Allah to do it for them. But whether
it is strange or not every time Muslim countries try to
take positive measures to keep up with development in
the rest of the world and to prevent themselves from
being dominated by others, there will be groups of
Muslim fanatics who will do their best or worse to keep
Muslims backwards and vulnerable in the name of Islam.
In fact these Muslims who want us to remain backward
are traitors to Islam and the Muslims. Knowingly or
unknowingly they are working for the enemies of Islam.
25. And so if we the majority of the Muslims want to
avoid being swallowed up by globalisation we must learn
to master it. The first things that Muslim countries
must do is to learn all about Information Technology
which is so intricately linked to globalisation.
26. Learning about Information Technology should not
be confined to its application alone. We must have the
capacity to develop the basic software which is so very
essential and yet so very costly for us to acquire now.
We must develop our own basic software on which to
develop other softwares. We must in fact develop our
own Internet or Intranet. There is no reason at all
why we must use only the Internet for all applications.
27. This is a tall order perhaps but what some people
can do others can also do. And we should be able to do
better.
28. Beyond software we must develop our own hardware.
We must design and produce the microchips without which
there would be no Information Technology. We must
develop all kinds of applications for the
microprocessors, applications not only in computers and
communication but also in engineering, in automated
machines and robots, in precision engineering, in the
manufacture of sophisticated instruments and appliances
and a host of other applications.
29. From these we must develop our own manufacturing
industries so as to reduce our dependence on others.
In fact we must now catch up with the Industrial
Revolution that we missed. Our manufacturing capacity
must at least be equal to those of developed countries.
30. Perhaps this thing that I propose is a tall dream.
It is of course a dream. But we do have the resources
and the expertise, albeit limited at the moment. We
are not going to beat the developed countries but we
should be able to catch up with them in time, or at
least not be left so far behind as we are now.
31. We have a duty to our religion to do this.
Globalisation is not just about material wealth but
also about values. We see the destruction of morality
in the materialistic world. Today homosexuality is
actively encouraged and in some instances even
incestuous relation between siblings and parents and
children are tolerated. It seems that in the name of
human rights anything is allowed, nothing is barred.
Marriage and families are no longer respected
institutions. They are neither formalised nor
considered necessary. Families are defined as two
people or more living together without any recognised
marriage ceremony or registration and begetting and
rearing children of indeterminate parentage.
32. Muslim countries and Muslim Governments have a
duty to ensure that globalisation will not result in
the marginalisation of their countries as happened with
the Industrial Revolution and Industrial age. We
cannot afford it this time. If once again we miss this
opportunity to keep pace with the radical and rapid
advances now being made with technology and the
sciences, and the changes they cause to the world's
perceptions of things, the new ideas and concepts in
human and international relations; if we miss all these
and fail to handle them then we will not only be
marginalised, but we will be dominated and hegemonised
permanently.
33. We also stand exposed to the undermining of our
religion and our value system. We may think we can
isolate and insulate ourselves but this is a false
hope. Even if we can keep our borders, we cannot
prevent wireless communication from penetrating our
society.
34. Already we have to accept and practise alien
ideologies, concepts and values. Our systems of
Government have to change and we have to constantly
justify and apologise for our practices and values.
Of course some of us are extreme and we should condemn
them but the vast majority of us are moderate and
rational. Our systems and our values are not absolutely
bad although we have to rid ourselves of pre-Islamic and
cultural values which are actually not Islamic but are
tribal.
35. We the moderates and the rational must try to
understand globalisation, the technology that is
driving it and the inevitability of globalisation in
some form or another. Understanding this we must
prepare ourselves not only to fend off the dangers but
to make use of globalisation so as to catch up with the
developed countries in both Information Technology and
industrial capacity. We must not miss this opportunity
if we want to preserve our independence and the essence
of our religion and values. Whether the impact of
globalisation on us will be beneficial or not depends
upon us. Blaming others will get us nowhere. Remember
the Quranic injunction that Allah will not change the
fate of those who do not try to improve their fate
themselves. Remember also that all that is bad is due
to our own doing, all that is good comes from Allah.
Sumber : Pejabat Perdana Menteri
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