Oleh/By		:	DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD 
Tempat/Venue 	: 	MING COURT HOTEL, KUALA LUMPUR 
Tarikh/Date 	: 	03/12/84 
Tajuk/Title  	: 	THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY FORUM 
			MALAYSIA 1984 




Distinguished Guests; 

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

I feel honoured to be asked to address this international conference on
Southeast Asia and the Pacific Age organised by the Association for the
Promotion of International Cooperation of Japan and the Institute of
Strategic and International Studies of Malaysia.

2. The presence of so many distinguished participants from Europe and
other parts of the world at this gathering must give cause for much
satisfaction for the organisers, as it must to the people in this region
who are anxious to learn from all continents. At the same time it affords
the world an opportunity to know of the problems, hopes and aspirations of
the people of this region. No country or community can just be concerned
only with the area or region that they are in. Whether we like it or not,
we have all become citizens of the world.

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

3. Permit me to say a few words about Southeast Asia and the Pacific Age
-- the theme of your conference. The Pacific is nobody's lake. It is a
vast ocean that for centuries divided two of the biggest land masses --
Asia and the Americas. For a very long time the peoples of the two
continents knew nothing of each other.

4. But the wonders of modern communication have made the Pacific more of a
lake than the Mediterranean was to the conquering Romans. Today aeroplanes
criss-cross the Pacific in a matter of hours, while voices can be heard
and scenes viewed the very instant they happen. And so it is no longer
strange to talk of Pacific Rim countries or even to propose a Pacific
Community. So far we have not gone beyond the stage of talking. And for a
long time we will only talk. But it is a subject worth talking. Imagine a
community united by a vast ocean instead of by a continent. It may seem a
little far-fetched except that the physical obstacles are no longer
there. What remains are political and cultural obstacles. Yet compared to
Europe in the first half of this century and before, there are less
political obstacles in the path of a Pacific Community. But cultural
obstacles remain and they are powerful and for the moment conclusive.

5. The fact is that the Pacific Rim is peopled by people of differing
races and cultures, and different stages of development. Unlike Europe
which is relatively homogeneous, even the Asians in the Pacific Rim are
different from each other. For a long time they know nothing of each
other. Naturally they are prejudicial against each other. Such is their
difference that even a minimum programme of cooperation is impossible at
the moment. And so for a long time there will be no Pacific Community. But
this does not mean there isn't or there will not be a Pacific Age. The
fact is that for very different reasons each and every Pacific Community
has exhibited vigorous growth in the past twenty years or so. Such is the
economic achievement that they have largely outstripped Europe -- the
centre of modernisation in the last two or three centuries. The indicators
show that their growth is likely to continue even if there is no
institutionalised relationship between the countries of the Pacific
Rim. It pays, therefore, to recognise such growth and to study the effect
on both the countries within and the countries outside the region. It may
be just an academic exercise which influences not at all the Governments
concerned. But such studies may still provide greater understanding of the
mechanism, the successes and the mistakes that human societies and
communities make. It may provide posterity with a model that they can
emulate or avoid as the case may be. In any case, it is far better to make
contemporary observation than to have future historians deduce, influenced
as they must be by their own contemporary environment and bias.

6. So much for the Pacific, the Pacific Rim, the Pacific Community and the
Pacific Age. But we are interested in Southeast Asia, a component of the
Pacific Rim that is reputed to be dynamic and growing in importance every
day. It is not quite correct, of course, to say that the whole of
Southeast Asia is dynamic, economically speaking. Several countries in the
Southeast Asia region are actually stagnating or even regressing. The
Indochinese Peninsular is still involved in a debilitating war from which
it can only emerge weaker and more subservient to foreign
powers. Political ambitions and outdated ideas of racial hegemony have led
to the expansion of vast amounts of man, money and material in a futile
war of conquest. The immediate effect is to make the ambitious conqueror
itself a client state and a vassal of a foreign power. In the long term it
will impoverish the whole of the peninsular, once the seat of some of the
greatest of ancient Asian civilisation.

7. Indochina excepted, the rest of Southeast Asia tells a different
story. Although there may be temporary setbacks, on the whole the
countries of Southeast Asia excluding Indochina are doing extremely
well. Politically they are stable i.e. when compared to the other newly
independent countries. Economically they all adhere to a free-market
system, where home-grown entrepreneurs have brought about economic growth
that is remarkable even by developed world standards. Thus through the
seventies and eighties while the United States of America and Europe grew
by an average 2.9% per annum, the growth for the ASEAN countries averaged
6 to 8%. In the last decade domestic investments grew by 1.9% per year in
the United States of America and 3.1% in Japan. In the ASEAN countries
growth in domestic investment ranged from 7 to 14%.

8. It may be coincidental but the ASEAN countries comprising Indonesia,
Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, seem to have done well
since the formation of their Association. Yet ASEAN is far from being an
economic community. It was regional politics that prompted the setting up
of ASEAN. Out of the ashes of confrontation ASEAN rose like the proverbial
phoenix. It should really be an economic animal but, try as the members
might, they have not really succeeded in the field of economic
cooperation. Instead they have been politically more cohesive, consulting
and working with each other not only on regional matters but even when
dealing with global affairs. Indeed their political cohesiveness is one of
the most important aspects of ASEAN.

9. Even though economic cooperation has not been remarkable, the fact is
that the members of ASEAN have each been economically dynamic. With the
admission of Brunei into the membership, the group's combined economic
performance must be among the most remarkable in the world today. Even the
world economic recession has failed to bring the kind of disasters
experienced by other developing countries.

10. What is the reason behind this performance? Economic cooperation may
be minimal, but there is ample evidence that the ASEAN countries tend to
learn from each other. When the open economies of some of the members
proved beneficial to economic growth, narrow nationalistic socialism with
attendant nationalisations were abandoned. Foreign investment was
encouraged, with each country devising a set of incentives in order to
attract the highest amount of foreign capital.

11. Domestically private enterprise began to replace unbearable. Today the
process of denationalisation has progressed to a point where privatisation
has not only become respectable but has become a by-word in the
Association. In Malaysia privatisation has been made possible by the
emergence of a group of indigenous entrepreneurs who have benefitted from
the New Economic Policy.

12. Government expenditure on infrastructure and administrative reforms
attracted the attention of all the ASEAN Governments. While there are
still a lot of weaknesses there is no doubt that the Governments of ASEAN
countries have become more efficient and outward-looking, at least by
comparison to the state of affairs before the emergence of ASEAN.

13. No one can deny that great strides have been made by all the ASEAN
countries. Such is their achievement that ASEAN has become the second most
effective regional grouping in the world, next to the EEC.

14. Perhaps the ASEAN experience could provide a guide for greater Pan
Pacific cooperation. ASEAN has become a successful and effective grouping
not tied together so much by the dictates of contractual obligations and
treaty undertakings as by a strong sense of community and what we in ASEAN
call the "ASEAN spirit". ASEAN is not premised on any grand design. There
is no great economic or political blueprints. But the spirit of
partnership continues to be nurtured even as we continue to give priority
to each of our national interests. Over the course of time, and because of
the broadest range of shared discussions, shared activities and shared
decision-making, there has arisen cooperation and partnership for
progress, interdependence and a mutuality of interests.

15. Grand economic designs were disregarded at the inception of ASEAN. To
expect too much would have resulted in achieving nothing. If ASEAN had
started out to become another EEC, it would never have got off the
ground. People and nations cannot get on together until they know each
other. If there is going to be some quantum leap in cooperation between
the countries of the Pacific, then the appalling ignorance even among
neighbours in the region must be overcome.

16. It follows that if the Pacific Rim countries are interested in some
form of association, a grand economic design should be the last thing that
they should think of. Instead, they should try to get to know each other
better. As a start discussions of non-controversial issues of interest to
everyone, such as meteorology, rescue operations, charting the seas and
oceans and the like could be held. Over the course of time, more and more
subjects could be discussed and new areas of cooperation embarked
upon. All the time, the numerous contacts, formal and informal,
multilateral or bilateral, will stimulate a greater knowledge and
appreciation of each other. In time, a sense of community will emerge that
will make mutual help and cooperation almost second nature. If in the
meantime deliberate programmes of studies and exchanges such as this
Global Community Forum are organised, the process can be considerably
accelerated.

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

17. Today it seems to be fashionable to talk in terms of the Global
citizen, the Global Community and things that are Global in nature. While
it is a noble concept that ought to be pursued and at the same time a very
good academic exercise, nevertheless we should not lose track of the more
immediate problems facing us today. While we are gathered here, exchanging
ideas and thoughts on how we can work globally, there are many others
elsewhere who are working and even scheming to make the world anything but
global. I refer to those countries who have now become more inward
looking, and are only thinking of their own selfish interest. We see
states forming groupings or exclusive clubs to keep others out of their
combined markets. World bodies and organisations are ignored. Much work
now tends to be done outside the framework of the United Nations. Far from
showing greater concern for the developing countries, the advanced North
have introduced tariff and non-tariff barriers, to hinder and frustrate
the economic advancement of the developing South. The developed countries
have also come out with other measures under the guise of assisting
domestic industry and stimulating domestic economic growth. In reality,
they are nothing but protectionist measures to deprive the entry of
products from developing countries.

18. Of course, the developed countries by virtue of their economic
strength and control of the world's economic systems can go on doing
this. They can continue to influence the world markets to their
advantage. They can continue to deprive the legitimate interests of the
South. They can also continue to carve their spheres of economic
influence. But these developed nations must surely realise that in the end
there will be a price to pay. We are really interdependent and even the
developed must one day bow to the developing. We saw the results of the
prolonged exploitation of the oil producing countries. Surely we do not
want to see that repeated in other areas even if it be on a lower scale.

19. The inequities in our shrinking world must be reduced and the
developed countries cannot dismiss these inequities as irrelevant. The
collapse of the financial systems in some developing countries carries a
lesson for all. As much as the developing countries must be responsible,
the developed countries must also stop shirking their responsibilites.

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

20. It is also disheartening to note that there are those who still
believe that if you want peace, you must prepare for war and that the only
guarantee of stability is the creation of balances of military power. In
the past it may have been logical for a peace-loving nation to be so
well-armed for defence that no one will dare to attack it. But in these
days of enormously expensive star-war weapons, such a notion is
ridiculous. No sooner have you invented a weapon to defend yourself
against the latest in weapons of mass destruction when the other side will
come up with a weapon to render ineffective your defence system. And the
same is true the other way round. The result will be an escalation of
expenditure on defence and offence that will pull the rest of the world
along with them. We are seeing it happening now. The Global Community
which sounds so good may only mean global destruction if the idea of
preparing for war in order to avoid it is carried to its logical
conclusion.

21. We, in Malaysia, believe that the first line of defence of any country
is not its military capabilities. The first line of defence lies in it's
national resilience and in shaping a strategic environment where threats
are minimised. It lies in the policy of making friends with those who want
to be friends with us. This Global Community Forum I hope will be part of
this exercise in making friends.

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

22. I must thank you for this opportunity to say my piece on the subject
you are going to discuss -- Southeast Asia and the Pacific Age. I am sure
that in any case you are all going to have a highly stimulating academic
discussion. If you have any time at all, spend it in having a look at one
showpiece.

23. I now have much pleasure in declaring this Forum open.

Thank you