Oleh/By : DATO SERI DR MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : PWTC, KUALA LUMPUR
Tarikh/Date : 04/08/2003
Tajuk/Title : THE FIRST EAST ASIA CONGRESS
Versi : ENGLISH
Penyampai : PM
" BUILDING THE EAST ASIAN COMMUNITY: THE WAY FORWARD "
On May 13, 1993, ten years and three months ago,
in a speech to the Asia Society Conference on "Asia and
the Changing World Order" held in Tokyo, I said the
following:
"I believe that it is now time for all of us to
launch a process - on top of and over all the
other important processes which are already in
place - a process whose final destination is a
zone of co-operative peace and prosperity
stretching from Jakarta to Tokyo.
We have a legitimate right to want our region to
be a zone of sustained co-operative peace and
prosperity, living in productive harmony. If
this will take a hundred years, the sooner we
start the better. And it is best to start in
the most propitious of circumstances.
We must begin with small, pragmatic and
productive steps. And we must expect our
friends in other parts of the world to
understand our aspirations, even as they give us
the advice that we need and the help that we
require."
2. As it turned out, some could not or would not
understand our aspirations. They did give us a great
deal of self-serving advice. They helped some of us
understand that we had no right to dream what was not
their dream. They helped us understand that we had no
right to work for an Asian community, living in
friendship and cooperation.
3. You might remember that three years earlier, in
December 1990, immediately after the breakdown of the
Brussels negotiations in the Uruguay Round, during the
state visit of Chinese Premier Li Peng to Kuala Lumpur,
I had had the temerity to suggest an even more
atrocious idea: the formation of the EAEG, the "East
Asian Economic Group".
4. From the perspective of today, these words I have
cited and the proposals I put forward a dozen years ago
appear un-exceptional. Hardly reason for anyone to
raise a sweat. Certainly no reason for high blood
pressure or palpitations of the heart.
5. But ten years ago was a different time and a
different place. Those who speak of East Asians just
coming together to talk among themselves were regarded
as revolutionaries intent on excluding those who had to
be in our meeting room, at our dining table and under
our bed. Those who believed in an East Asian community
were heretics fit for burning at the stake.
6. Today, those who speak of such an East Asian
community of nations are no longer regarded as insane
or foolish, or the most delirious or dangerous of men.
The idea of East Asian cooperation and community
building is now regarded as un-extraordinary, logical,
and even natural. Blatant heresy has now almost become
boring conventional wisdom. The idea and the ideal
have already walked a hundred li (miles).
7. Those who had the temerity, a decade or so ago, to
suggest that the journey should begin can look back
with some modest satisfaction. But I believe there is
little time for the luxury of resting on laurels.
8. Today, at this, the First East Asia Congress, you
will be discussing in detail the case for and against
an Asian Monetary Fund, whatever you may wish to
finally call it in order to avoid touching any raw
nerves. In other parts of the world, conventional
economic theory says that trade cooperation should
precede monetary cooperation. But conventional
economic theory has been written basically by
economists from countries and regions that are capital
poor or impoverished. We in East Asia hold the world's
reserves - by the trillions - which we put in the
United States and Europe, thus buttressing their
currencies and economies. A small proportion makes the
round-trip back to East Asia in the form of foreign
direct investment, foreign equity investment and loans.
9. I am not suggesting that we turn economic theory
on its head. But perhaps, as ever, East Asians have to
think for themselves. East Asians will have to find
the creativity to come up with the best, most
appropriate solutions. Perhaps we can and we must
advance on many fronts at the same time. Certainly we
must have the courage to do what needs to be done.
10. You will, during this First East Asia Congress, be
discussing China's critical role in the building of our
East Asian community. This clearly is one of the core
challenges in the decades to come, as China continues
to be the powerhouse of regional and global growth.
11. You will be discussing in detail trading regimes
and the fascinating ideas of my good friend Thaksin
Shinawatra. You will be discussing health cooperation,
something that was not on any significant radar screen
even four months ago.
12. You will be discussing in detail educational
collaboration, a crucial area for our development
because there is nothing more important for our long-
term future than the development of our most important
resource, our people.
13. You will be discussing in detail the massive
tourism flows which have already begun and which will
continue apace after the SARs roadblock. Tourism
cooperation promises much not only economically but
also in terms of the development of people-to-people
relations and regional community building.
14. You will be discussing in detail labour migration,
the media's contribution to community-building and
specific institutions such as the ASEAN Plus Three.
Let me try to contribute to the discussions by tackling
some of the more basic questions, the fundamental
"who", "why", "what", "how" and "when" questions.
First, who should build our East Asian Community of
Cooperative Peace and Prosperity? Second, why should
we build this East Asian Community? Third, what should
be the East Asian Community that we must try to build
in the years and decades ahead? Fourth, how should we
undertake this enormously important but complicated
task? Fifth, when should we begin in earnest?
15. Let me take the first question first. Who should
be the entrepreneurs, architects, engineers and
builders of our East Asian community? I very strongly
believe it is we, the nations of East Asia, who should
build our East Asian Community of Cooperative Peace and
Prosperity. We are not cows to be led by the nose. We
are not children to be led by the hand. This is a
journey we must make with our own two feet. We must
walk together. We must act together and advance
together.
16. All this does not mean that we should turn away
from anything or anyone. We must not forget those to
whom we owe our full measure of gratitude. Old friends
are to be venerated. All those who are not against us
are with us. They are or will be our friends. And it
is now gratifying to find so many who wish us and our
journey well. In our long and difficult journey, we
will need to learn from the experience of others. We
have many friends in Europe. The experience of Western
Europe certainly provides a rich reservoir of lessons.
17. We should certainly not turn away from the
experience of ASEAN, which I believe is even more
directly relevant. This is so not because of the fact
that ASEAN is East Asian. It is so because ASEAN's
experience provides a closer fit with regard to
regional community-building at a lower level of
integration; at an earlier stage of development. We in
East Asia will for the foreseeable future be in this
phase of lower-level integration, political and
economic.
18. Let me repeat: We will need the advice and help of
all our friends and everyone who wishes us well. Let
me emphasise: Those who are not our enemies are our
friends. It goes without saying that we must not turn
away from the wisdom of the West, of the North and of
the South. Yet we must not forget the wisdom of the
East. We must not forget our special circumstances,
our unique history, our particular priorities, and our
distinctive needs. One shoe does not fit all. This is
especially true when we literally know that our feet
are definitely much smaller than those of our friends
in South Asia, Europe and the Americas.
19. Over the last quarter century, the pioneers of
East Asian community-building, the most important
builders even today, have not been the governments of
East Asia, the media of East Asia, or the intellectuals
of East Asia -- but the corporations of East Asia. In
the years ahead, day and night, seven days a week, they
will continue to weave the web of economic community in
our region, which will remain the most important
foundations for regional community-building. But it is
time for others to fully join the process. It
certainly is time for the governments of East Asia to
get in the comprehensive business of community
building.
20. Which governments, you might ask. I am not sure
if some of you will like my answer, because so many
have become too steeped in the glorification of power
politics, so-called realpolitik, so-called
"leadership", which is not true leadership at all and
so-called "realism" which is not at all realistic - or
for that matter, productive. I do not believe in the
wonders of imperial dominance or "benign" hegemony. In
the case of East Asia today and in the future, this
will be clearly catastrophic. It is fortunately
impossible.
21. Pax Nipponica, Pax Americana, Pax Sinica - all
three are not desirable. Fortunately, all three are
not possible. The governmental leadership that an East
Asian community will need in the years ahead must come
from various sources, on various issues, at various
times. This is not only desirable, but fortunately, it
is also inevitable.
22. Let me now turn to the second basic question: why
should we build this East Asian Community of
Cooperative Peace and Prosperity? The answer is, to
me, somewhat obvious. Although the East Asia of today
is completely different from the East Asia of the past,
although in so many directions we have made
breathtaking progress, we still have a very long way to
go. There is no doubt that we have come a long way in
building peace, friendship and stability in East Asia.
But we have done the easier part and we are almost half
way there.
23. We have come a long way in building prosperity and
development in East Asia. But that is the easier part
- and many have only just begun. I hope I do not sound
like an impatient man who is unprepared to count our
blessings. I also hope I do not sound like the jaded
leader who can look in the sewer and see all the dirt,
who at the same time is unable to look up in the sky
and see all the stars.
24. Over the last three decades especially, we have
seen a massive outbreak of peace in our region, a
massive peace transformation in East Asia. For most of
the last 20 years, we have been more at peace than at
any time in the last two centuries. So why bother with
peace when it is already there? The answers are quite
simple. Peace is best made when there is peace. It is
too late to make or strengthen our peace once it has
broken down. Like the judicious farmer, we must make
hay when the sun is shining, not when the storm clouds
gather; certainly not when it is pouring. And let us
not forget that 10 years ago, the peace momentum was
faster and more assured. There were fewer and less
dangerous threats. The Korean Peninsula was more
stable. We now have little time to lose in
resuscitating the peace momentum, to ensure that it is
speeded up and made more assured.
25. On the economic front, we have performed
remarkably. So remarkably in fact that so many experts
from other parts of the world with less humble and more
colourful vocabulary have called us miracle economies,
tigers and dragons. But over the last few years, we
have all learnt that our feet are made of clay; we have
indeed performed incredible economic deeds but we
remain full of weaknesses and continue to face enormous
challenges.
26. Some of us seem to have hit a brick wall. Some
have even lost hope. I believe it is time to once
again work for the return of recent history, to go back
to the beginning of necessity, to re-examine critically
the so-called reforms we have plunged into. We need
not be ashamed of our ways, for our successes have
actually been due to doing things our way.
27. I have concentrated on the internal agenda for
East Asia. There is a third fundamental reason why we
must proceed to the building of an East Asian
community. We in East Asia are the most dependent
region in the world on world trade and economic
development. Yet we are without voice and without
clout. The decisions that directly determine our
present and dictate our future are made elsewhere. It
is time for us to empower ourselves, for the good of
our people and for the sake of our future and the
future of the world.
28. I will shortly have a little more to say on the
need for empowerment. But let me now turn to the
fundamental "what" question. What is the East Asian
community that we must try to build in the years ahead?
I think I have already revealed my hand. In one
sentence: I believe that in the years ahead we must
concentrate on building an East Asian Community of
Common and Cooperative Peace and Prosperity, a
community that is empowered within our region and
empowered in the wider world.
29. Why "Common and Cooperative"? "Common" because
our East Asian Peace and Prosperity are now truly
indivisible. We are now so inter-related, so enmeshed,
so much in the same boat that a critical threat to
peace anywhere in East Asia is a critical threat to
peace everywhere in East Asia. A hole in the rear of
the East Asian boat is as much a danger to those
standing in front as it is to those sitting at the
back.
30. A critical threat to prosperity anywhere in East
Asia is also a critical threat to prosperity everywhere
in East Asia. The 1998 economic crisis made this clear
beyond any doubt. SARS made this clear beyond any
doubt. The events of the last few years leave room for
no other interpretation.
31. Why "cooperative", you might ask. This is so
because our peace and our prosperity will be less
fragile and more durable if all sides work together and
are committed to our common peace and prosperity and if
friends and neighbours are around and engaged in the
process of making sure that everyone gets along and
prospers together.
32. Peace and prosperity are of course critically
inter-related. They are the two indispensable legs
without which we cannot continue on our journey to the
future that we must have. In that future must be an
East Asian economic community and an East Asian
political community built by East Asians according to
our specifications, our circumstances, our aspirations
and our needs.
33. Let me also stress that both the East Asian
economic community and the East Asian political
community that is advocated should be outward looking.
There must be no retreat behind a great East Asian
economic barricade. There must be no circling of the
wagons. No hiding behind Great Walls. The whole world
must be our marketplace. The whole world should be
welcome to our East Asian market.
34. Let me also stress that the East Asian political
community that should be advocated is not one that is
inward looking, defensive, frightened. It must open
itself to the world even as we venture forth to every
nook and corner of our globe. This planet belongs to
all of mankind. The world is as much ours as it is
anyone else's.
35. This East Asian Community I speak of must be
empowered within our own region. Very importantly, we
must also be empowered to play our rightful role in the
world. Today, we are the most dependent on
international trade. Our very lives, our entire future
hinges on decisions made in Geneva and Washington and
New York. Yet our voice is seldom heard and even more
seldom heeded. We carry little weight. We have little
clout.
36. We owe it to our people to amplify our voice, to
aggregate our weight, to boost our clout. Singly, we
are weak. Together we will be stronger. In unity there
will be strength. Let me also stress that we should
aspire to be a model for true North-South cooperation,
infused by caring and consideration. We must seek to
contribute to a sense of security and well being on the
part of all the countries of East Asia, not only the
strong but also the weak, not only the wealthy but also
the poor.
37. Whatever the schemes for cooperation we embark
upon, they must be founded on the principles of mutual
benefit, mutual respect, egalitarianism, consensus and
democracy. Each is important in its own right. Let me
repeat: Mutual benefit. Mutual respect.
Egalitarianism. Consensus. Democracy. No self-centred
selfishness that is interested only in squeezing our
neighbours dry. Prosper-thy-neighbour, not beggar-thy-
neighbour. No self-centred, self-righteous egotism
that justifies sermonising, hectoring, bullying and
coercion. No hegemony. No imperialism. No commands.
No decrees. No edicts. No diktats. No bulldozing. No
unequal treaties. No forced agreement. No
intimidation. No empty Cartesian contracts not worth
the paper on which they are printed. Instead,
advancement on the basis of true consensus and real
agreement. Democratic decision-making. No
unilateralism. The governance of East Asia, by East
Asia, for East Asia.
38. Let me now turn to my fourth question: how should
we undertake this enormously important but complicated
task of building our East Asian Community? It seems
clear enough that we should work on the atmospherics
and the relaxation of tensions and the climate for
healthy cooperation. Many will regard this as soft and
woolly. They are not. They are critical to our
progress as a region.
39. At the same time, we do need to be focused on a
few of the most promising joint ventures, concentrating
on the easy and the do-able, the most productive and
promising with the biggest spill-over or multiplier
effects. What exactly these will be will come from
East Asian creativity and genius, aided and abetted by
our many friends in the four corners of the world.
40. In the process of building our East Asian
Community, we should engage the widest measure of
participation at all levels - governmental and non-
governmental. The East Asia Economic Centre at ISIS
Malaysia and this First East Asia Congress are but
steps in the entire process of community building. We
must encourage a hundred ideas to contend and a hundred
flowers to bloom.
41. We should always be wary and worried about the
ideal being the enemy of the good. We should always be
concerned about perfectionist's paralysis. We must be
prepared not only to plan. More importantly, we must
be prepared to act. We must be doggedly committed to
persist in the face of obstacles, natural and man-made.
At the very same time, we must be practical. And we
must be patient. Whilst the future will decide so many
of the questions which we wish to ponder today, it
seems clear enough that if the European community
process had begun with the Treaty of Rome signed by 25
or more European states, the European Union of today
and tomorrow would have been killed at birth. It would
have landed in the dustbin of history forty years ago.
42. I am not well known for the slow and steady
approach. But it is clear enough that in building our
East Asian Community in the years ahead, we will need
at least four "P"s: principles, persistence, pragmatism
and patience. We will need the right principles,
pursued with dogged persistence, propelled by practical
pragmatism, accompanied by unyielding patience. Let me
now conclude with a few words on the "when" question.
When should we begin in earnest? The clear answer is:
day before yesterday. We should not under-rate what
has already been accomplished in a relatively short
time. But it would seem that in many ways we have
already lost too much time.
43. We must make hay when the sun is shining, not when
it has started to rain, certainly long before the storm
has arrived. Politically, I believe that in many ways,
it has already started to drizzle. Fortunately for us
in East Asia, we have been blessed by the fact that we
can now see some ominous gathering clouds; fortunately
the storms have not yet come. If we act now, and
properly they never will. Quite obviously, we must
make peace long before we need to make peace. We have
lost a great deal of time. We should act now with
speed if not haste, with determination if not alarm.
44. Even clearer is the message on the economic front.
Imagine how the world would have been different if East
Asia had started in earnest on the East Asian community-
building process a dozen years ago. Let me end, ladies
and gentlemen, with one last message: There is little
to be achieved by crying over spilt milk. There is
much to be achieved by acting with resolve, with
statesmanship, with vision, over a broad front, today
and in the immediate days to come.
45. I do not know how long the window of strategic
opportunity to our future will remain open. But I do
know that we will be failing our people, we will be
betraying our future if we do not now grasp the moment.
Sumber : Pejabat Perdana Menteri
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