Oleh/By		:	DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD 
Tempat/Venue 	:	DEWAN TUN HUSSEIN ONN PUTRA WORLD 
			TRADE CENTRE, KUALA LUMPUR 
Tarikh/Date 	: 	19/04/87 
Tajuk/Title  	: 	THE FIFTH SESSION OF THE 
			INTERACTION COUNCIL 




 Yang Amat Berbahagia Tun Hussein Onn,
     Chairman of ISIS;
His Excellency Mr. Helmut Schmidt,
     Chairman of the InterAction Council;
His Excellency Mr. Takeo Fukuda,
     Honourary Chairman of the InterAction
     Council;
Your Excellencies;
Ladies and Gentlemen.
    It  is  a  distinct  honour  and  a privilege for me to
address this distinguished group  of  eminent  international
leaders  and  world statesmen.   We have never had this rare
occasion to host so many prominent personages in our country
before.  On behalf of the Government and people of  Malaysia
may I wish Your Excellencies "Selamat Datang" and a pleasant
and productive stay in our country.
Your Excellencies,
2.   Everyone  of  you  has  the  reputation for dedication,
courage and breadth of vision;  accomplishments  which  have
not  only  benefitted your respective countries but also the
world at large.  Each of you has  also  held  high  offices,
having been at the helm of your  respective  ship  of  state
steering it through  tortuous  courses, in  fair as  well as
foul weather.  You have experienced the heavy responsibility
of power and the  agonising decisions-making that determined
the fortunes of your respective country.   Added to this are
the external implications  of  your actions as no country is
an island, particularly in this rapidly shrinking planet.
3.   Decisions in the national interest in these days cannot
help but affect neighbours, regions and the world.  This  is
especially  so  with powerful nations.   It is important and
imperative that there be greater accountability not just  to
the  nation  but  to the world.  World leaders are now truly
world leaders, not just leaders known to  the  whole  world.
International  fame   must   carry   with   it international
responsibility as well.  That  responsibility  cannot   just
cease  because  one  is  out  of  office.   The world should
continue  to benefit  from the experience and knowldege that
you  have accumulated  while in office. I believe that it is
because  you do feel  responsible  that you have founded the
InterAction   Council   of world leaders.  In a  world  gone
slightly  unbalanced your wise counsels are much needed.
Your Excellencies,
4.   You meet today in an atmosphere that is highly charged.
Trade  imbalances  have led to tension and threats among the
rich nations of the North.    Currency  has  become  totally
destabilised.  Commodity prices have collapsed.  Nations are
incapable    of    paying   their   debts.   The   East-West
confrontation and the arms race continues and  absorbs  much
needed funds for totally  useless  unproductive  activities.
The wars  in  the  Middle   East  show  no sign of  abating.
Religious and racial tensions have grown, fanned by fanatics
and  racists. Proxy wars are being fought in Central America
and Central  Asia.  In the Sahel belt of  Africa  starvation
and  death stare in the eyes of millions.  And to top it all
drug habits have destroyed much of the flower of our youths,
bringing  crime and disaster   to  people  who  are  already
impoverished.
5.   It is with this as a backdrop that  you  meet  here  in
Kuala Lumpur.  The  theme  you  have  chosen, "International
cooperation  in  the areas of population growth, environment
and  development,"  is  thus  most appropriate and relevant.
The   considerable influence that you still wield, would, we
hope, lend meaning to your deliberations.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
6.   Within the space of some twelve years from now  history
will record the flow of time into not only a new century but
also a new millennium.  Rightly we should be moving into the
twenty-first    century    with  a    sense   of  pride  and
accomplishment  considering   the  tremendous  strides  that
mankind  has   achieved  in  the twentieth century.  We have
seen the world undergo a massive transformation particularly
in technological  terms.  The  scientific  achievements that
have come about are particularly astounding in the fields of
communication,  transportation, medicine and space.  Many of
us today fly around the world in a  747  without so  much as
a  minute's reflection upon the fact that the whole aircraft
is  about  twice as long as the distance the Wright brothers
were airborne on their maiden flight only eighty years ago.
7.   In  our  enthusiasm  for the good life made possible by
science and technolgy, we often forget  about  the  miseries
which  accompany  this so-called progress.  There is a price
to be paid for all these progress.  Far too often it is  the
poor  who  have to pay.  Thus the miracle of laser and fibre
optics  have  forced  the  closure  of copper mines with the
accompanying    unemployment    of   workers  in  developing
countries. Pollution from chemical wastes have blighted  the
lives  of     many,  of  which  Bhopal  is just one poignant
example.  Advances  in  the  technology  of food  production
should  reduce  starvation.    They  do,   but   they   also
impoverish  the farmers   of   developing countries  by  the
resulting gluts and drops  in prices.
8.   The art of war has become the science and technology of
war.    As  new weapons and counter-weapons are invented the
meagre  treasuries  of  poor  countries  are emptied  in  an
attempt  to  acquire  expensive  defence systems.  Even as a
country  buys  a  new  weapon  it is told that  it  will  be
obsolete as an improved version or a counter-weapon would be
in the market in a year or two.
9.   Science  has  saved many lives but one wonders what are
these lives  being  saved  for.   Even  as  one wonders, the
population keeps growing. We are told by Malthus that if  we
don't  control  population  growth, we will outgrow our food
supplies.  Is this true?  Not for the present at  least.  We
now  have  more  food  than we can consume.  But such is the
economic system we have created, that those  who  most  need
the  food  are unable to pay for it.  And they are unable to
pay because those who can afford have destroyed their  means
of  earning  sufficiently  to  buy  the  food.   The fall in
commodity  prices,  restrictive trade practices by the rich,
unfair  competition by the technologically advanced, control
of  the  means  of  transport,   the  sponge-like soaking of
investment capital by the rich and a host of  other  factors
have all combined to make the poor even poorer.
10.  And  so the lives that science saves and the consequent
growth of population have  merely  compounded  the  problems
that  plague  our planet.  Telling people not to multiply is
not the answer when the problem is in the economic injustice
of a system that favours the rich and the powerful.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
11.  The poor in this world have as much desire  to  breathe
fresh  unpolluted  air as anyone else.  They do want to live
in an environment that is  naturally  clean  and  beautiful.
Bhopal  and  Chernobyl  horrifies them.   But the problem is
affordability.
12.  If they cut down trees for firewood it is because  they
cannot  afford other fuels.  If they tear down their ancient
forests it is because they need the money  from  the  timber
they  sell.  If they treat their country like a huge rubbish
dump  it  is  because  they  cannot  afford  expensive waste
treatment and disposal.
13.  It is right to want to preserve the pristine beauty  of
nature.   But if the only way for the poor countries to earn
money is to export logs at very  low  prices,  can  they  be
blamed  for  tearing down their forests?  Pay good money for
their timber and set up factories in their  country  to  add
value  --  these  will  obviate  the  neccessity for them to
decimate their beautiful forests.   Boycotting  the  use  of
timber  and  turning  to  substitutes like plastic will only
impoverish them and force them to chop down  more  trees  to
maintain what little they have been earning.
14.  In Malaysia we are concerned about the environment too.
But environment costs.  There will be no pollution from palm
oil  factories  if  the  factories  can  afford  to  pay for
pollution-control equipments.  But when palm oil prices  are
forced  down  by  subsidised  production of  competing oils,
environment  and  pollution  become  secondary  to  the more
pressing needs of earning minimal profits.
15.  Actually  for  most developing countries the problem of
environment is academic.   More  important  is  development.
Aid  is  important.  Soft  loans  are  welcome.  But  it  is
important  not  to  take  away  with one hand what the other
hand gives.  Development aid will not help if the  resultant
development is negated by restrictive trade practices.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
16.  No country wants to live on aid forever.  Every country
wants  to  earn  money  for itself.   This it can do only if
there are no trade restrictions.  The incentives offered  by
developing  countries  for  export manufacturing can only be
worthwhile if the developed countries open their markets.
17.  The trade wars of the rich should not result in blanket
restrictions     which     affect    developing   countries.
Restrictions  should   be   discriminating   in   favour  of
developing  countries.  The rich should be allowed to  avail
themselves of the favoured treatment of developing countries
if those countries themselves are unable to produce on their
own. What matters is that the developing  countries are able
to reap some  benefit  which   can   contribute   to   their
development.
18.  What we are seeing today is a near total disregard  for
the  poor.   Seven rich countries meet and make decisions in
their favour without any regard for the rest of  the  world.
Thus to solve their trade imbalances they decided to revalue
the  Yen and Deutschmark and undervalue the American dollar.
For Malaysia, for example, this decision has pushed  up  her
Yen  loan  by 70% while reducing her earnings from petroleum
exports.   And very much the same  thing  has  happended  to
other developing countries.
19.  This  is  what  happens  when  the  rich  become inward
looking.  Multilateralism is left battered, condemned  to  a
slow  death through fund deprivation.  And the poor pays the
price even as it gets poorer.
20.  We  have  yet  to  learn to accept the fact that we are
interdependent.  There are some who think that they  can  be
rich in the midst of poverty.  History has taught us little.
It  is almost as if someone is again saying, "if you have no
bread, why not eat cake instead."
21.  Actually enriching the poor  will  enrich  further  the
rich.   After all we cannot escape from being the market for
the rich.  The more spending money we have the  more  things
will we buy from the rich.
Your Excellencies,
22.  It  is  in  this  context  that  we see the role of the
Interaction Council.  You may no longer be  weilding  power.
But  you  do have influence.   You are the conscience of the
world.  We welcome you here in Malaysia because we think the
world needs its conscience now more than ever.
23.  The greatest achievement of the post-war years  is  the
liberation  of  so many colonial territories.  How tragic it
would be if the good work done  by  far-sighted  leaders  of
those years are negated by a slide towards a new and no less
debilitating form of imperialism.  We do not like to talk of
neo-colonialism.    A lot of work has gone into discrediting
the word.  But neo-colonialism does exist.  The term is  not
important but the fact is.
24.  A  few  people,   able  and  famous though they may be,
cannot resolve all the problems that beset our planet today.
But  if you can manage to prick the conscience of the powers
that be, that would have done the world and the cause of the
poor nations in particular a great service indeed.
25.  I am not a member of your organisation and I hope  that
the  next  few  days  would not qualify me to be a member of
your organisation.  Nevertheless, I would like to thank Your
Excellencies for this opportunity to share my thoughts  with
you.    I wish you every success in your deliberations and I
hope you have a pleasant stay in this country.
     Thank you.