Oleh/By : DATO SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : MOSCOW, RUSSIA
Tarikh/Date : 14-03-2002
Tajuk/Title : THE MALAYSIAN - RUSSIAN BUSINESS
& TECHNOLOGY FORUM AT THE
RADISSON SAS-SLAVJANASKAYA
Versi : ENGLISH
Penyampai : PM
"Globalisation Towards A Fair & Prosperous World"
I am most delighted to be here today to be with
leading figures of the Russian business community. I
wish to thank the organisers, ASLI, MATRADE, MDC,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation
and the Russian Union of Industrialists and
Entrepreneurs for coordinating this business forum.
2. For good or ill, globalisation has become the
economic buzzword of the 1990s. National economies are
undoubtedly becoming steadily more integrated as cross-
border flows of trade, investment and financial capital
increase. Consumers are buying more foreign goods, a
growing number of firms now operate across national
borders, and investors are putting money more than ever
before in far-flung places. Whether all of this is for
good or ill is a topic of heated debate.
3. Only a few years ago the international trading
system and global development would rarely have made
the headlines outside the specialist press. All that
has changed. Every international meeting with any kind
of economic theme now seems beset with protests about
the effects of globalisation. Globalisation is now a
powerful force in everyday life. It affects the
manufacture of the products and services we consume,
the ideas we study and exchange, and the values of our
societies.
4. We take for granted that goods and services should
be able to circulate freely for our benefit. But at the
same time many people are concerned over the
accelerating pace of economic change and fear that many
of the world's citizens may simply be marginalised.
5. It has been a time of significant changes for
developing countries over the last few decades. For
many of us, managing our own destiny is something new.
Our experience with development therefore, has been
comparatively limited. A number of us have achieved
some measure of success in economic development; but
there are many which have yet to achieve any
significant progress.
6. Many of us have on our own undertaken
liberalisation measures by opening our markets to trade
and investment, evolving our institutional
and regulatory systems, orientating our economies to
external challenges and eventually accepting
globalisation, in the hope of benefiting from the
opportunities afforded by this process.
7. These developments have occurred against a
backdrop of changes over which we have little control.
Political stability, natural and human resources,
capital and investment, were once the only ingredients
in the formula for development. But today
technological advances, borderless flows of capital and
the advent of a knowledge-based economy have
complicated the development equation. We are not
certain we can deal with this new complex environment,
which changes even as we try to adjust to them. And
because we are not so competent in dealing with
these, our developments have been and will be affected
adversely.
8. What we do know is that the path to development
has never been easy even at the best of times. Despite
our concerted efforts, we see rising inequality between
developed and developing countries, with continued high
levels of poverty and unequal and inequitable benefits
from globalisation. We see increasing uncertainty in
the global economy. We see greater disparities
resulting from the globalisation process. We continue
to see growing inadequacy of the global institutions to
deal with the economic problems.
9. It would seem that the benefits of trade and
investments have been unequally shared among countries.
The current belief by the global community that
countries must embrace and adopt liberalisation and
global rules; and development would then follow have
not been proven true. It would seem that the current
practices in trade and investments are not capable of
distributing wealth equitably.
10. We admit that we are not perfect. We have
corruption, we lack transparency and our corporate
governance is not perfect. But so have the rich.
Despite our alleged corruption etc we had developed our
countries and given our people a good life. The market
forces, which boast of wanting to discipline
Governments, have had no noticeable success despite the
high cost to us. But they have certainly made fortunes
by their manipulations of the currencies and the market
and now by their acquisition of the banks,
industries and businesses rendered moribund by their
action. The advocates of globalisation apparently care
little for results as long as the methods are according
to them, correct.
11. We are falling into the old trap of believing that
systems on their own can resolve human problems.
When we put too much faith in a system we will forget
the reasons why the system was initially formulated.
Systems are devised because they are believed to be
able to right current wrongs and bring benefits to
the practitioners. Unfortunately once a system is
accepted, it becomes so sacred that even if the results
it delivers are worse than the situation it was
supposed to remedy, it must still be upheld, defended
and practised. At that stage if anyone dares to go
against the system he will be regarded as a heretic and
universally condemned.
12. Globalisation has already shown signs of becoming
a religion that tolerates no heresy. This is rather
unfortunate, for globalisation, if properly interpreted
and regulated, can bring about a great deal of wealth
and benefit to the world, the rich as well as the poor.
The important thing is to focus on the results rather
than dogma. If the results are good then by all means
implement it, but if the results are bad for anyone,
then globalisation must be reinterpreted and modified
until the expected results are achieved.
13. There is no doubt that if globalisation is
properly interpreted and practised it can result in a
more equitable world order where wealth is more evenly
distributed between the rich and the poor. Badly
interpreted it can destroy the poor especially and by
extension stifle the growth of the rich.
14. Today political or ideological interests are of
less importance than economic growth and greater
material wealth for people. Most of us believe that
free trade and private investments can
help achieve these. We believe that globalisation can
contribute to more rapid growth through free flows of
goods, services and capital.
15. But we also know that the best run economies
can run into deep trouble. We the poorer countries
cannot afford the recessions. We believe we can
contribute towards avoiding recessions. Therefore our
views should be taken seriously in the
formulation of the international financial and
economic systems. While some countries have adjusted
and benefited from the liberalisation and globalisation
process, many because of their low level of development
have not managed to get a share in the benefits
of globalisation. In the context of the present
environment, capital flows have been channelled to
where the returns are highest, and not where capital
is most urgently needed to uplift the level
of development. This is the natural consequence of
relying on market forces. The bottom line is what
counts.
16. Existing international infrastructure is
inadequate to deal effectively with developmental
problems and crises. The international
institutional machinery, comprising the United Nations,
the IMF and the World Bank, have not been able to cope
with the challenges confronting the developing world.
The Asian financial crisis has clearly shown the
inability of the developed world and the international
institutions to respond effectively to crises and the
effects of contagion.
17. Poverty and unequal distribution of wealth have
resulted in security and social problems. And they are
likely to continue to do so in particular in
the developing countries. We must be sincere
and earnest in finding solutions, solutions that can
realise the full economic potential of developing
economies, and to reduce significantly the problems of
poverty, hunger, ill health, aids, illiteracy and
gender discrimination.
18. I believe that the integration of economies and
the liberalisation of trade can assist in the reduction
of poverty. Many countries, both developed and
developing, have seen dramatic rises in their standard
of living in recent decades. Developing countries -
for example, Bangladesh, China, India, Ghana, Nepal,
Uganda and Vietnam - that became much more open to
trade in the 1980's and 90's, have experienced growth
rates above, in some cases well above, the global
average. Yes, it must be said that progress has been
uneven and some other countries have not done so well
in recent years.
19. Yet the countries that have opened up to trade
have had the largest rise in incomes. There are no
examples of closed economies with high rates of growth.
And the problems of poverty within countries cannot be
tackled without economic growth. It is a terrible fact
that one in five of the world's people still lives in
abject poverty. Tackling this is the greatest moral
challenge facing our generation. The United Nations has
set a target of the year 2015 to halve the number of
people living in extreme poverty. That number is more
than one billion.
20. That fact should be remembered by those who give
up on democratic debate and take to the streets, as we
saw recently in Genoa, and before in Gothenburg,
Prague, Seattle and elsewhere. Lobbing a brick through
the window of McDonald's may relieve boredom for some
individuals in the West but it does nothing at all to
help lift up a billion people out of poverty.
21. Governments and the private sector and wider civil
society need to co-operate particularly closely on a
major threat to development and the reduction of
poverty in developing countries: the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
This means pursuing effective disease prevention
programmes, investing in the search for new medication,
making these treatments more affordable, and improving
health care delivery. Poor Governments cannot do this
if the rich think only of returns on investments.
22. Poor people's access to medicines has generated a
real debate on the linkages between health and economic
issues, involving ordinary citizens right across the
world. I welcome that debate. It is only by dialogue
and co-operation among governments, businesses, society
and individuals that we can make globalisation work in
the interest of all the world's citizens.
23. The responsibility to address the issue
of development and globalisation is a collective one.
Developed countries must play an active role in
assisting countries affected by these problems.
However, developing countries must accept that we too
have to do our bit to ensure that sustainable growth
and prosperity can be attained.
24. We must continue to enhance domestic resilience
and capacity building. We must continue to invest in
human resource development; to be equipped with the
skills and knowledge to cope with a rapidly changing
world dominated by technological innovations and
advances. Investment in education with emphasis on
science and technology must be given priority.
Attention must be given to strengthening domestic
institutions and the framework of laws, rules and
regulations to ensure resilience in the face of
challenges posed by globalisation.
25. Apart from the efforts of developing countries,
advanced industrial countries have a special
responsibility to facilitate this process, by assisting
developing countries to gain access to knowledge, ideas
and inventions, at a reasonable price. Intellectual
property must be protected but consideration must be
given to the needs of the poor. By all means profit
from the intellectual rights but make those who can
afford pay more while reducing the profit from the
poor.
26. To be able to manage the pace and direction of
liberalisation and globalisation, developing countries
must be allowed to effectively participate in the
decision making process in all international
institutions. International institutions must have the
mechanisms to allow the views of all to be heard. The
recent WTO Meeting in Genoa, Italy clearly demonstrated
the need to involve all relevant parties in
the decision making process. Street demos can serve as
a wake-up call but we should all be discerning enough
to anticipate protests and be proactive so as to avoid
the resort to street violence.
27. Malaysia is not against globalisation. But we
want to ensure that the poor, the developing countries
can benefit from the fruits of globalisation. Hence
our demand that all should be consulted in the
interpretation and formulation of a global economic
order.
28. We need the process of liberalisation and
globalisation to benefit businesses and citizens,
especially in the developing world. There is no
necessity for greed as the world is extremely rich in
both natural and human resources. Morality must temper
our desire to acquire more for ourselves.
Sumber : Pejabat Perdana Menteri
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