Oleh/By : DATO SERI DR MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : EZULWINI, SWAZILAND
Tarikh/Date : 13/08/2003
Tajuk/Title : THE OPENING DINNER GLOBAL
2003 SMART PARTNERSHIP
INTERNATIONAL DIALOGUE
Versi : ENGLISH
Penyampai : PM
CO-CREATING OUR DESTINY: THE SMART PARTNERSHIP WAY
I am truly honoured to stand before you as a
fellow Smart Partner this evening and to be given this
opportunity to address you. To my host, His Majesty
King Mswati III, may I extend my deep appreciation for
a warm welcome to beautiful Swaziland. I wish to
record my heartfelt appreciation for the hospitality
and warmth that our African brothers and sisters have
bestowed upon my wife and I whenever we attend the
Smart Partnership Dialogues. This is the seventh one
in Africa for us.
2. In the last twelve months since the Langkawi
Dialogue in Malaysia, we have witnessed the continuing
scourge of conflict, invasions and disempowerment of
nations. Not to be forgotten is the SARS epidemic that
inflicted more economic damage to East Asian countries
than the 9-11 attacks. The challenges seem to be
daunting and the human endeavour needed to surmount
this should be even more onerous. Our gathering here
in beautiful Ezulwini over the next few days is
certainly a rededication to what we can do together, so
that our collective efforts can achieve the outcomes
that singly and separately would have been impossible
to achieve.
3. On the political front, the third stage of the
Iraq saga seems to be unfolding. The first was
inflicted on our sensibilities beginning more than ten
years ago. It continued for twelve long years when not
satisfied with economic sanctions which deprived the
Iraqi people of food and medicine, killing and
disfiguring several hundred thousands, particularly the
children, the powerful democracies continuously bombed
the Iraqi armed forces until there was nothing left
that they could fight with.
4. Having thoroughly weakened the Iraqis, the second
stage was launched, and surprise, surprise, the Iraqis
were defeated, their country invaded and occupied. Far
from using the weapons of mass destruction they were
supposed to possess, their warplanes could not even
take to the air.
5. And now we are seeing the third stage, the setting
up of a new and democratic government to be welcomed
with happiness by the freed Iraqis. Apart from
imposition of a foreign government being anything but
democratic, support by the Iraqi people is not
forthcoming. Instead a guerrilla war is in full swing
and the saviours are being told to leave or be killed.
6. What do all these mean to us, the nations which
aspire to become developed and to enjoy the standards
and appurtenances of the rich. The sole multilateral
institution which we had hoped to protect us, the
United Nations, has now been completely emasculated and
made impotent. There are still other international
organisations in which we are members, but all of them
are more interested in protecting the privileged few
than the welfare of the many. We have no one to help
us. The only thing that we have left is ourselves. We
may not feel up to it but the fact is that is all that
we have. We ourselves must face the onslaught of
globalisation and overcome the inequities that come
with it.
7. Why should we fear globalisation? The world is
getting smaller and there really is no place for any of
us to hide ourselves, to be an economic or political
island. Globalisation is an idea whose time has come.
We have to accept the fact. But must we accept the
interpretation of globalisation as formulated by the
rich?
8. The International Herald Tribune is not my
favourite newspaper. It has nothing good to say about
Malaysia or about any other developing country. We are
all doing the wrong things. The International Herald
Tribune journalists and other Western journalists would
certainly do a better job of ruling our countries. We
would become developed in no time if the editors of the
International Herald Tribune, the Wall Street Journal,
the Economist are made Presidents and Prime Ministers
of our countries. But once in a while these geniuses
would confess to the errors of their ways. And so it
was with the International Herald Tribune of July 23,
2003.
9. This is what the reigning editorial genius of the
Tribune has to say about the Western (which you can
also interpret as ethnic Europeans' interpretation of
one particular incident involving globalisation. This
is the story of the catfish of Vietnam, how it
threatens to impoverish the great United States of
America.
10. I quote the great International Herald Tribune.
"Normalisation of ties with the US, the one time enemy,
brought American trade mission...one of these
delegationS recognized the Mekong Delta catfish as a
golden opportunity for export". Within a few
years...half a million Vietnamese were living off the
catfish trade. Vietnam captured 20% of the frozen
catfish-fillet market in the U.S., driving down
prices."
11. "So the Americans, represented by the Catfish
Farmers of America declared war."
12. It seems that "of the 2000 catfish types, only the
native American species qualified as "catfish". The
Vietnamese could only market their catfish in America
under the Vietnamese term "basa" or "tra".
13. The anti-Vietnamese catfish campaign went on.
Representative Marion Berry, Democrat Arkansas,
suggested that Vietnamese fish were not good enough for
American diners because they were contaminated with
Agent Orange (which as we all know were sprayed all
over Vietnam by American forces to defoliate all
greenery). The Catfish Farmers of America ran
advertisements depicting Vietnamese fish as "floating
around Third World rivers nibbling on who knows what."
14. Then the American group accused the Vietnamese of
dumping catfish at below their cost of production and
sale price in Vietnam. The Commerce Department then
declared that Vietnam is a "non-market" economy and
that means the cost of production in Vietnam is
suspect.
15. And so the Vietnamese catfish farmers numbering
almost half a million lost their business, could not go
back to ordinary farming, and were destitute.
16. This is not the only case of course. The
Americans conducted a similar campaign against
Malaysian palm-oil, claiming that it is high in
cholesterol, and causes death from heart failure.
Malaysian rubber gloves are said to cause allergy and
hospitals actually put up notices that no natural
rubber gloves are used by the hospitals.
17. Despite the fact that 50 percent of Malaysia is
covered with natural forests and 20 percent more by
tree plantations, the Europeans claim that Malaysia is
deforesting and Malaysian timber and timber products
are subjected to all kinds of non-tariff barriers.
Rubber wood furniture which does not involve natural
forests are said to be poisonous because of boric acid
preservatives.
18. This is globalisation as interpreted by the rich
ethnic European countries. We accept globalisation but
must it be the kind of globalisation as interpreted by
them. They say they will open their markets to us but
they find all kinds of excuses to keep them closed.
19. I can tell you of many more instances of double-
talk. Everything is conditional, even the aid given.
You have to support their policies or it will be cut
off. And at the slightest misdemeanour, sanctions
would be applied.
20. Now of course they have gone beyond sanctions.
War, invasion and occupation of countries are justified
even for spurious reasons. Accusations of possession
of weapons of mass destruction, dictatorial regimes,
violation of human rights, etc. can all be excuses for
invading a country. And when these excuses were proven
wrong, they would say that even a slight suspicion is
enough to justify invasion to overthrow a regime.
21. In the pursuit of their aggression policies,
their media play a prominent part. Lies are made up
and news distorted in order to undermine the target
developing country. Malaysia's Government is made out
to be an authoritarian regime, a dictatorship,
notwithstanding regular election and the obvious
successes of the opposition parties. Anyone against
the government must be above the law. If they are
detained under the law, it is wrong. If they are tried
in a court of law, defended by anti-government lawyers
then it is a charade if found guilty. These brown
people, they don't understand the rule of law, justice
etc. How can they find opposition members guilty? Yet
if the country sucks up to them, not allowing
successful opposition members to take their places in
Parliament, charging them for misuse of their party
funds, finding them guilty and barring them from
contesting in election, it is considered as right.
22. Double standards is everywhere. We can be
criticised and condemned. But if we point out the
error of their ways, it is made clear that this is not
right and should not be done. Pointing out to them
that they have a history of seizing other people's land
and claiming it to be their country, is unfair. This
was long ago history. They don't do such things
anymore.
23. But is it true that they don't do such things
anymore? Not in the same way perhaps. But in other
ways, equally blatant and resulting in the same thing.
We may not be occupied, although invading and
occupation is still possible. But merely by forcing us
to open our borders for their giant corporations to
come in is sufficient.
24. In Malaysia we have always allowed for foreign
participation in our economies. We have been lavish in
our incentives, giving long tax holidays and even
lending the capital for these companies to set up their
facilities. We admit freely that these foreign
investors have contributed much to the development of
Malaysia, in particular to the creation of jobs for our
people. We still welcome them but we do have certain
minor restrictions to protect our locals and to make
sure that our independence remain intact.
25. We have done very well with our home-grown
policies. We have no doubt that our way would ensure
growth and the betterment of our people and our
country. But now we are told that we must open up
completely, subject ourselves to rules which are
formulated by rich people elsewhere, and have our
government abdicate its role as the formulator of
policies and their enforcement. Henceforth the market
i.e. the big foreign corporations backed by their
governments would decide. The market would discipline
the government.
26. We had a taste of this when the currency traders
devalued our money and destroyed our economy. But we
are told that is no reason to reject the system. If
being destroyed by a system or regime is not good
enough a reason for rejecting them, then when do we
reject them?
27. The history of ideologies and systems coming out
of the West is invariably the same. They think up of a
system to overcome the failure of the current system.
They force their countries to accept this system or
ideology. After some time they are forced to admit
that this great ideology could not deliver the good
life that it promised. The system failed. Then they
come up with another system which they are absolutely
certain would bring the good life. Over a period of
time this would fail and then a new one would be
formulated and would go through the same cycle.
28. They had absolute monarchies, which they replaced
with republics, then republican anarchy and
dictatorships were replaced with socialism and
communism, then back to capitalism, free trade and
democracy. We can be rest assured that they would
later on condemn democracy and free trade and come up
with another perfect formula.
29. Each time they change the whole world must change.
If anyone defies them he will be torn to pieces and
thrown to the dogs along with his country. Heretics
used to be burnt at the stakes by them. The same fate
would befall anyone or any country which heretically
refuses to believe in the latest creed. The burning at
the stakes can be quite literal, but it can take other
forms of course.
30. They will say that the free market will bring
wealth to the poor through a trickling down effect.
But let us see the facts. The spread of global markets
has widened the gap between the developed and
underdeveloped countries. Today the richest one
percent of the world's population own as much the
poorest 57 percent. Half of the world's population
lives on less than two dollars a day, more than one
billion on less than one dollar a day. Meanwhile the
20 percent of those living in high income countries
account for 86 percent of the world's private
consumption expenditures.
31. What we are seeing today has been the downward
spiralling of wages, with health and safety standards
being given mere token regard. We are definitely
competing -competing among ourselves-in this race to
the bottom. After all, global capital, which is
answerable to no one, can jump in and pull out of any
country without concern for the dislocation the host
countries face. Taxes can spread some of the wealth.
In their own countries they pay taxes on the wealth
they make so the poor can have a share of it. They now
make profit by exploiting the whole world. But they
pay no taxes to the world to be expended on the poor in
the poor countries. Today more than two billion of the
six billion inhabitants of the world live in abject
poverty suffering all kinds of diseases and dying like
flies. They no longer give out aid, the 0.7% of GDP
that they promised. As to being taxed so as to use
some of their wealth to feed the poor, they would not
hear of it. Their media won't even publish the idea,
much less support it.
32. These are the facts of life today, the 21st
century the beginning of the third millennium. There
is no justice, no fair play, no charity. The
civilisation of the stone age, where might was right,
is still with us.
33. We of the third world, the so-called developing
world can cry over all these but it is not going to do
us any good. The only argument that we can use is our
strength, little though it may be. Alone we are puny
but together we can garner some strength, wield some
clout.
34. There are among the rich some who have a
conscience, some who believe exploitation by the rich
of the poor is not right. They are the exceptions of
course but we can form alliances with them.
35. But most importantly we must put our houses in
order. Life is short. Power and wealth can be enjoyed
only for a short while. Soon even the most powerful,
the most wealthy will die. But if power and wealth is
used to build our country, to develop our economy, the
results can live long after we are dead and gone.
36. Pardon my reverting to Malaysia but we in Malaysia
believe in a very simple philosophy. We have a very
rich minority made up of people of foreign extraction.
We, the majority indigenous people, can dispossess them
and take everything for ourselves. But we know that
what we forcibly acquire would not generate wealth
anymore. We would not know how to squeeze wealth from
the great enterprises that enrich this minority group.
37. The rich minority on the other hand realise that
their wealth is built upon the stability and
cooperation of the indigenous people. Realising this
they show a willingness not just to share their wealth
but to inculcate the values and help the majority
indigenous people to attain the skills to make wealth
for themselves. It would take a long time but in the
meanwhile they are happy to make some sacrifices in
order to reduce the disparities between them and the
majority indigenous people.
38. So the rich and the poor will share the cake of
prosperity, unequally at first but progressing towards
greater equitability with the passage of time. No
overnight wealth, no overnight impoverishment. It is,
we in Malaysia believe, far better to have a slice of a
growing cake than the whole of a disappearing cake.
39. The present interpretation of globalisation will
result in greater and greater inequitability all the
time. The rich will not only become richer but they
will be separated from the poor because of ethnicity
and nationality. Sooner or later the poor will hit
back. Today's terrorism is partly an expression of
this disparity in the distribution of wealth. The
retaliation by the poor and the ethnically and
nationally different can take many other forms. The
rich will not be able to enjoy their wealth forever.
40. This is the story of humankind. Disparities have
always been the cause of revolutions and bloodsheds.
But this time it will not be within the community or
within the country. It will be on a world scale. In a
way it already is. The world war that will come will
not be between alliances of nations. It will be
between classes, the rich ethnic minority states
against the poor ethnic majority states.
41. Perhaps such predictions are pessimistic and
alarmist. But despite the sophistication of the
intelligence gathering of the powerful, no one foretold
the 11th Sept 2001 attack. Do not be too sure that
there cannot be some ingenuity on the part of the
oppressed.
42. And so, Ladies and Gentlemen, we must strive to
make the inevitable global nation work, to make it work
by reinterpreting it. We must bring our philosophy of
prospering our neighbour, of "win-win" formulas into
the vocabulary of the globalised world. We must bring
about smart partnerships, firstly between us of the
poor developing nations, so we may have some clout in
the determination of the economic regime of the world,
and after that a smart partnership with the rich, the
enlightened rich, of which there are quite a few.
43. The great junk bond traders of New York
unashamedly proclaim that "Greed is Great." Greed is
not great. It has always been the cause of wars and
imperialism, of oppression of the strong over the weak,
of revolt and rebellions.
44. Charity is great. The great civilisations
prospered and survived only when charity characterised
their societies. We must strive to bring back charity
in the management of our affairs, our national and
international affairs. And we can do that if we
believe in prospering our neighbours, in smart
partnership and in win-win formulas.
45. That I believe is why we are here in Ezulwini, in
this great Swaziland nation. We must not be too
ambitious. We must do what is right firstly within our
own community, within our own nation, before we try to
change the world. We must believe that we can do it.
And most assuredly we can.
46. We must be prepared to make what may seem to be
personal sacrifices, but truly they are not. We must
then be prepared to make national sacrifices which will
prove to be no sacrifice at all. In the end they will
all pay back, and pay back handsomely.
47. That is the way to co-create our destiny, to co-
create the smart partnership way.
Sumber : Pejabat Perdana Menteri
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