Oleh/By : DATO SERI DR MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : NEW YORK
Tarikh/Date : 25/09/2003
Tajuk/Title : THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Versi : ENGLISH
Penyampai : PM
May I as Prime Minister of Malaysia and Chairman of the
Non-Aligned Movement, offer my sincere congratulations
to you on your election as the President of the 58th
Session of the General Assembly. I am confident that
given your wisdom, experience and diplomatic skill, you
will be able to steer the proceedings of this Assembly
to a successful conclusion. I wish to assure you of
the fullest cooperation of the Malaysian delegation. I
strongly believe that the members of the Non-Aligned
Movement would similarly render all their support and
cooperation to you.
2. Allow me also to pay tribute to your predecessor,
His Excellency Mr. Jan Kavan, for his dedication and
the effective manner in which he had conducted the work
of the 57th Session of the General Assembly.
3. I also commend the Secretary-General for his
efforts and perseverance and I salute to the men and
women who have dedicated and given their lives in the
service of the United Nations.
4. This Assembly has been conceived as a forum for
the nations of the world, big and small, to air their
views and grievances freely as the stakeholders in the
governance of the international community. It is
unfortunately subservient to the United Nations
Security Council, which in turn is subservient to any
single one of the five victors of a war fought more
than half a century ago. It is hardly a democratic
forum but it is all that the great civilisation of the
late 20th and early 21st centuries has; a civilisation
that is supposed to uphold freedom.
5. Still we, the small nations have much to be
grateful for. From being the colonies of the Europeans
we are now independent, and we are granted membership
of the United Nations with the right to speak, albeit
with proper restraint and decorum at this august
assembly. And as independent nations we believe we
have a right to manage our internal affairs ourselves
without foreign interference.
6. We admit that there are abuses in the management
of our countries by some of our governments. But our
detractors should remember that they had also abused
their government's power when they seized land
belonging to the indigenous people and exterminated
them, claiming that it was their "Manifest Destiny" the
"White Man's Burden," to bring civilisation by setting
up their own countries in these lands and confining the
indigenous people to barren reserves, with no role in
the government of the new nations. What they had done
to the indigenous people is not out of character for in
their own countries they had carried out pogroms
against the Jews, inquisitions and mock trials, torture
and killing by burning at the stakes.
7. We all carry the baggage of history. But we would
willingly leave them behind if it is not for the fact
that history has a nasty habit of repeating itself.
Today we are seeing the resurgence of European
Imperialism. At first we thought the colonisation
would be virtual. Merely by economic strangulation and
financial emasculation, the newly independent countries
could be brought to their knees, begging to be
recolonised in other forms. But today we are actually
faced by the old physical occupation by foreign forces.
Puppet regimes are installed dancing as puppets do.
8. And this august institution, the United Nations in
which we had pinned so much hope, despite the
safeguards supposed to be provided by the Permanent
Five, this Organisation is today collapsing on its clay
feet, helpless to protect the weak and the poor. This
United Nations can just be ignored, pushed aside,
gesticulating feebly as it struggles to be relevant.
9. Its organs have been cut out, dissected and
reshaped so they may perform the way the puppet masters
want. The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund,
the World Trade Organisation have now been turned into
instruments of hegemony, to impoverish the poor, to
enrich the rich. It is not surprising that today the
disparities between rich and poor are far greater.
10. With an impotent United Nations and its agencies
turned into national organs of the powerful, the small
nations are now naked and hapless. Even if we are
totally innocent, there is nothing to prevent trumped
up charges to be made against us.
11. We feel a great need for the integrity and
credibility of the U.N. to be restored. Fortunately,
the breach of international norms has been by countries
which are reputedly tolerant of free speech and the
rights of others. When criticisms are forbidden then
the abuses will increase until they become intolerable
and revolt takes place with all the destruction that
accompanies it. That was what happened with Saddam
Hussein on a national scale. That also can happen on
an international scale. Free speech provides the
safety valve, the absence of which must lead to an
explosion eventually.
12. Since the Asian financial crisis in 1997, Malaysia
has not been able to recover fully. This crisis has
been followed by the collapse of the Dot.Com.
companies, the massive cheating by the huge
multinational corporations of the rich. Then came the
11th Sept. attack by terrorists, which precipitated an
unprecedented tightening up of security worldwide, the
invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. The world now lives
in fear - the rich from terror attacks and the others
from being made targets of suspicions and pre-emptive
aggression.
13. Then came the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome,
which almost bankrupted many airlines, and the tour and
travel business. SARS disappeared almost as quickly as
it appeared. But there is no guarantee that it, or
similar new infectious diseases, will not come back.
14. The world has lost its way. The hopes of the post
World War II period and the United Nations were dashed
by the Cold War. Now the Cold War is over but the
resultant unipolar world and the ascendancy of
capitalism have brought about new threats. No country
is safe from marauding currency traders who in a few
short days can demolish the patiently nurtured
economies of the developing world. Far from curbing
these highway brigands, they are lauded for their
philanthropy. Robin Hood at least stole from the rich
to give to the poor. These highway men steal from the
poor and give a paltry sum to assuage their sense of
guilt. They are no philanthropists.
15. The unipolar world dominated by a democratic
nation is leading the world to economic chaos,
political anarchy, uncertainty and fear. We are not
going to recover, and have peace for as long as threats
are used for political and economic reforms that most
of the world is not ready for and not willing to
accept.
16. If we want to have democracy, the rule of law and
respect for human rights, the powerful must demonstrate
their commitment to all these noble ideas. And they
can begin by restructuring the United Nations, in
particular the abolition of the undemocratic single
country veto. This should be replaced with a modified
veto where two veto powers backed by three other
members of the Security Council would be needed to
block any United Nations Resolution. But slowly even
this should be dismantled in favour of majority
decisions in the Security Council.
17. The other important agencies of the United Nations
must be freed from the domination of any single
country. Gradually they should be made more
democratic.
18. The free market must be recognised for what it is
- a market where the bottom line is paramount. It is
not a political force for the disciplining of
governments. For the right to exploit world trade, a
tax should be levied by the United Nations and used by
the United Nations to build needed infrastructure for
the poor countries of the world.
19. Exchange rates should be fixed by an International
Commission based on relevant issues. Apart from a
small commission, no profits may be made by speculating
or manipulating exchange rates.
20. Subsidies by rich countries for the production of
food and other products must be forbidden although poor
countries may be allowed for a stipulated time to
protect their industries and food production.
21. The world has lost its way. The world is moving
too fast. We need to pause, to take stock of things.
There is a Malay saying that when one loses his way he
should go back to the beginning. We need to go back to
the beginning. If we dare to admit it much of the
problems that we face today are due to the arbitrary
expropriation of the land of the Palestinians in order
to create the State of Israel to solve the European
Jewish problem.
Sumber : Pejabat Perdana Menteri
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