Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR.MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : YOGYAKARTA INDONESIA
Tarikh/Date : 22/10/2003
Tajuk/Title : THE 21ST CONFERENCE OF THE
ASEAN FEDERATION OF ENGINEERING
ORGANISATIONS (CAFEO-21)FOR
RECEIVING THE AFEO DISTINGUISHED
FELLOW AWARD
Versi : ENGLISH
Penyampai : PM
Mr. Insinyur Pandri Prabono Chairman of the ASEAN
Federation
Of Engineering Organisations(AFEO);
Mr. Insinyur Rauf Purnama Chairman of the 21st
Conference of the ASEAN Federation of Engineering
Organisations (CAFEO);
Distinguished Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is truly a great honour and pleasure for me to
receive the ASEAN Federation of Engineering
Organisations (AFEO) Distinguished Fellow Award I would
like to
express my sincere gratitude to A.F.E.O. and its
country members
2. When the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or
ASEAN was first established on 8 August 1967 with five
members, the share of intra-ASEAN trade
from the total trade of the Member Countries was only
between 12 and 15 percent
However, today we are ten members with a population of
about 500 million, a total area of 4.5 million square
kilometres, a combined gross domestic product
of 737 billion U.S. Dollars, and a total trade of 720
billion U.S. Dollars
Within three years from the launching of A.F.T.A.,
exports among ASEAN countries grew from 43.26 billion
U.S. Dollars in 1993 to almost 80 billion U.S. Dollars
in 1996, an average yearly growth rate of 28.3 percent
In the process, the share of intra-regional trade from
ASEAN's total trade rose from 20 percent to almost 25
percent
3. This Association as stated in the ASEAN
Declaration,Bangkok, 8 August 1967, represents the
collective will of the nations to bind themselves
together in friendship and co-operation and, through
joint efforts and sacrifices, secure for their people
and for posterity the blessings of peace, freedom, and
prosperity
4. In 1997, the ASEAN leaders adopted the ASEAN Vision
2020, which called for ASEAN Partnership in Dynamic
Development aimed at forging closer economic
integration within the region. The vision statement
also resolved to create a stable, prosperous and highly
competitive ASEAN Economic Region, in which
there is a free flow of goods, services, investments,
capital, and equitable economic development and reduced
poverty and socio-economic disparities. The Hanoi Plan
of Action, adopted in 1998, serves as the first in a
series of plans of action leading up to the realisation
of the ASEAN vision.
5. In addition to trade and investment liberalisation,
regional economic integration is being pursued through
the development of Trans-ASEAN transportation network
consisting of major inter-state highways and railway
networks, principal ports and sea lanes for maritime
traffic, inland waterway
transport, and major civil aviation links. ASEAN is
promoting the interoperability and interconnectivity of
the national tele-communications
equipment and services. Building of Trans-ASEAN energy
networks, which consist of the ASEAN Power Grid and the
Trans-ASEAN Gas Pipeline Projects, are also being
developed.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
6. These projects require highly sophisticated
engineering inputs. I am glad to note that there are
some 500,000 engineers of various disciplines in ASEAN
countries. These are the very engineers that would help
build ASEAN.
7. Many of the ASEAN member countries are also members
of the World Trade Organisation. Unfortunately, unlike
ASEAN where member countries are guided by fundamental
principles of mutual respect and consensus, W.T.O. is
strongly influenced by the rich nations. In this
grouping, some countries are unable to speak their mind
for fear of being victimised by the super powers.
8. Champions of free trade portray trade as the great
leveller, allowing
rich and poor countries alike to determine their
fortunes and future. The W.T.O. agreements supposedly
are about lowering the barriers to trade and ensuring
that the W.T.O.'s member-states do not discriminate in
their trade dealings. Unfortunately, rather than
building a broad agricultural and industrial base which
can substitute for imports, "free trade" doctrine
requires countries to focus on their "comparative
advantage" i.e. free competition between goods and
services between the providers without regard for their
sizes and strength. The result must be the ascendancy
and increasing wealth of the giants of the rich and the
practical elimination of the business of the poor.
There will be no hope for the poor to industrialise
except to provide cheap labour to the foreign giants
and enhance their investment and competitiveness
further. In the meantime
the rich will continue to subsidise their farm produce
one way or another so as to compete with the produce of
the poor countries not only in the rich countries but
in the world market.
9. Like the World Bank and the I.M.F. the W.T.O. is
now being made into yet another instrument to enrich
the rich and impoverish the poor. Cancun is described
by the rich as a failure because the agenda set by the
rich was not
agreed to. To the poor it was not a failure. It was
the first time that the
poor countries had stood up for their rights. We can
celebrate. But the pressure
will now be applied selectively on us to force us to
break rank. The stick and the carrot will be
extensively used. If we succumb then the future will
be very
bleak for us. We will be the worker bees for their
queens, providing cheap labour, owning nothing and
learning nothing. We will earn better pay and better
standards of living perhaps but we will always be
working for others chiefly
our ex-colonial masters. We cannot be truly independent
economically or politically. Our recent experience
during the Asian financial crisis is
still fresh in our minds.
10. After Sept. 11th the world has learnt to fear
terrorism, the indiscriminate
attacks and killing of innocent people in bids to
achieve some goals or merely to seek revenge. The
terror attacks are not just by irregulars acting on
their own. States too have their own programmes of
terror. Indeed we see states launching vicious massive
retaliation, not just to kill suspected terrorists but
his family, his home, his village and his towns. It
would be ridiculous to think that such attacks do not
terrorise the innocents. In fact the terror is even
greater, for it is systematic and executed with heavy
weapons in the hands of trained soldiers. It would seem
that the great exponents and practitioners of
democracy believe that the way to spread the doctrine
and to break down resistance is by terrorising the
world.
11. But terrorism can take many forms. Economic
terrorism instils as much fear and damage to life and
property as bombs and guns. Thriving economies can be
destroyed, impoverishing whole countries and regions,
throwing workers out of jobs by the millions,
disrupting the peace and tranquillity of human society
with riots, killings and crimes. Simply because the
speculative and manipulating
rogues and their own media do not describe their acts
as terrorism does not mean
that they are not acts of terrorism, acts which cause
fear and terror among their victims. The economic
terrorists are as bad as other terrorists. They cause
damage and death if not directly, certainly indirectly.
And their after
effects are much more prolonged.
12. Nations are bankrupted and forced to submit to
foreign directions. Businesses are bankrupted or
forced to sell out, usually to marauding foreign
companies. Banks and industries collapse.
13. If Government tries to help, it is called a bail
out. Governments are accused of cronyism. All these
accusations are thrown by the very people who
in their own countries practise bailouts and cronyism
whenever they are faced by
even minor failures on the part of their own companies
and funds, including
the hedge funds which destroyed the economies of the
developing countries.
In fact the Government personnel bail out the very
companies in which they have
personal investments.
14. Truly they practise double standards. It is a case
of telling others to do as they are told and not as
they do. And this applies to technical standards as
well. We must comply with their standards or else we
may not enter their markets.
15. Still we should comply to standards even if they
are not set by us.
As engineers you understand the importance of
establishing high standards and
upgrading them all the time.
16. ASEAN engineers have proven their professional
capabilities and
have been able to produce goods and products of very
high standards
which comply with world standards. Civil works by ASEAN
engineers
are exportable items as are their fabricated and
engineering products.
ASEAN must be a centre of excellence in the engineering
field. ASEAN engineers
must not wait for others to innovate and establish new
methods and systems for them to copy. They must do
research and development on their own and establish
their own methods and systems which should become
standard for the rest of the
world.
17. For this purpose I believe there is a move to
establish a register of expertise, skills and knowledge
among ASEAN Professional Service providers.
This can facilitate the match making of skills within
the region and those from outside the region. The
ASEAN Engineers Register is already in place with the
secretariat hosted by the Institution of Engineers
Malaysia. The ASEAN Engineers Register can form the
basis of enhanced cooperation between ASEAN Engineers.
Mutual recognition of qualifications would enable our
engineers to practise within all the ASEAN countries.
18. The register can also provide sufficient data
regarding the qualification of individual engineers for
the benefit of prospective employers; encourage a
continuous updating on the quality of engineers through
setting, monitoring and
reviewing standards, promote cultural and professional
links among members of the engineering profession
within ASEAN and enhance wealth creation in the member
countries.
19. Malaysia is prepared to act as the hub to help
pool the available
resources in the region and develop a directory of the
experts and their
skills. The hub can facilitate the exchange of ideas
and pool resources for
joint work as well as facilitate the movement of
professionals within and outside the region.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
20. It is important that professionals take note of
the latest developments and
prepare for them. With increased liberalisation and
free trade you may find that you are dictated to by
others from outside the region and that the available
jobs at your doorsteps are being undertaken by others
and you are left to pick
the crumbs.
21. It is not that ASEAN Engineers are less capable
and unable to undertake the
job. It is just that the collective strength is not
marshalled for the collective good of the profession in
the region.
22. Obstacles need to be overcome and this includes a
change in mindset.
Instead of competing with each other in the region you
should pool your
resources and expertise and undertake jobs that are
being undertaken by
your counterparts from the U.S. and Europe. Pooling of
resources will
also enable you to get bigger jobs and projects both at
home, within
the region and outside the region.
23. The impediments should not be viewed as obstacles
and hindrances.
They should be seen as challenges and you should seek
ways to deal with
them and to move ahead.
24. There is need for win-win solutions for countries
in the region and
especially for the benefit of the less developed among
ASEAN members.
It is important that the region's capacity is enhanced
and the standards
improved for mutual benefit. The more developed
members, through suitable out-reach programmes should
offer transfer of expertise and technology to the less
developed members in an effort to prosper your
neighbour.
25. Attachments for the younger engineers should be
encouraged and formalised within the region. While I
understand this is already being done, it should be
done in a more concerted manner. This will facilitate
the matching of skills that are available and help
identify skills that are needed in the region instead
of having to look for them from outside the region.
Similarly, training
of postgraduate engineers has to be harmonised and
aligned to ensure that benchmarked requirements are
met. The ASEAN Engineers so trained will then be primed
to mature, over time, into captains of industries and
leaders of important asset owning institutions and
enterprises that will generate
wealth. The goodwill generated will lead to the
greater integration of
ASEAN nations. I am told that this initiative has been
started and is being
implemented by the ASEAN Engineers Register. Through an
M.O.U. between A.F.E.O.
and I.K.R.A.M. (Institut Kerja Raya Malaysia),
I.K.R.A.M. is the training provider for and on behalf
of ASEAN Engineers Register. It carries out training
programmes. In fact our Malaysian Technical
Corporation Programme has been utilised for some of the
training programmes.
26. Our hopes and aspirations for peace and harmony,
and unity of purpose for the region now rest with the
youths of ASEAN. We shall offer them the space,
the opportunities and the guidance.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
27. May I say once again how honoured I feel that you
should confer the A.F.E.O. Distinguished Fellow Award
on me.
Thank you.
Sumber : Pejabat Perdana Menteri
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