Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : ISTANA HOTEL, KUALA LUMPUR
Tarikh/Date : 11/01/96
Tajuk/Title : THE 1996 NEW ASIA FORUM
TOWARDS AN ASIAN RENAISSANCE
Firstly, I would like to thank ISIS for inviting me
here today to officiate this "Towards an Asian Renaissance"
Forum.
2. A new Asia is on the rise and that is something only
the blind and deaf in mind would fail to notice. Asia
cannot be stopped. This New Asia must continue to be an
achieving Asia, a continent of progress, bringing massive
and comprehensive development to all Asians. This New Asia
must be a contributing Asia, a continent that contributes
not only to its constituents' advancement but to the
advancement of mankind as a whole. To do both, this New
Asia has to be an empowered Asia, a continent that is a
mover and shaker, not the object but the subject of
international affairs, not a consequence but a cause.
3. In order for all these to happen, for Asia to be worthy
and to have the capability, there has to be a conscious
Asian Renaissance, a rebirth that will re-make Asia and
re-shape the world. So far the Asian nations have developed
separately, disparately and with no vision of the roles they
should play for Asia and the world. While Asia must eschew
the idea of Asian dominance, it must still insist on being
an equal partner for Europe and America. It must reject
domination by any of them.
4. In the space of 50 years, Japan has risen from the
ashes of war to become the world's second strongest economy,
after the United States. Of late there have been some
doubts voiced about Japan's potential. But I believe that
given time Japan will overcome the harrassments and become
re-invigorated.
5. China has emerged from civil war and civil conflict,
from the depths of poverty and disorder to blaze a trail of
dynamism seldom witnessed in world history. China's
modernisation is moving ahead at breakneck speed.
6. South Korea emerged from the ravages of a bitter war,
complete destruction of its infrastructure, and utter
impoverishment -- from being a clear and hopeless "basket
case" -- to become one of the economic miracles of the 20th
century, indeed of any century.
7. Taiwan has been another Northeast Asian dragon. It has
done so well that it is now saddled with the problem of how
to hide its enormous reserves.
8. In Southeast Asia, Singapore was the first Asean tiger.
A few days ago, the OECD formally "graduated" Singapore into
the ranks of the developed world. The Republic's per capita
income is now the ninth highest in the world in U.S. foreign
exchange dollar terms, forget purchasing power parity.
9. Indonesia, one of the largest countries in the world,
which in its first ten years grew on average by 1.5 per cent
per annum, was given up as lost by all and sundry until the
mid-1960s. Today, after 30 years of remarkable economic
growth, it stands poised to become one of the largest
economies of the world, with little doubt about its present
and future dynamism.
10. The Western Press was fond of saying that Thailand,
that country of coups, could only survive because it was a
cat with nine lives. They are wrong. Thailand not only
survived but prospered not because it was a cat but because
it is a tiger. The Philippines have not done as well as its
neighbours, for reasons that I need not go into. But watch
out for this ASEAN tiger, one of East Asia's coming economic
miracles. Watch out too for Vietnam, already growing into a
tiger even before it joined ASEAN. It is now set for a
burst of speed. Watch out also for the other countries of
Southeast Asia. Watch out for India and the economies to
our West.
11. As for Malaysia, I am reminded of the fact that when we
were born as an independent country in 1957, most in the
Western world saw us as a prime candidate for the dustbin of
history. Let us not forget that it was only in 1960 that we
managed to catch up with the per capita income of Haiti, the
poorest economy in the Americas. Today, one generation
later, Malaysia has a standard of living higher than any
country in the American hemisphere -- higher than any
country in South, Central or North America -- with the
exception only of the United States and Canada. Today, this
struggling nation of 19 million hard-working people is the
13th largest trading nation in the world. Tradewise,
Malaysia is substantially larger than Russia or Australia.
We are one and a half times larger than Indonesia or Brazil.
We are twice as large as South Africa or India. In terms of
market capitalisation of our stock market, we are also
number 13. To be sure, we are half the size of that of
Germany. But in Asia we are only behind Japan, Hong Kong
and Taiwan. Not bad for a primary candidate for the dustbin
of history. Not bad for a country which so many `knew' had
no future.
12. In living the present and contemplating the future, we
so often forget the past. Let us not forget that even as we
are today regarded as a region of dynamos, we were, till
very recent times, regarded as a region of dominoes -- ripe
and ready to fall. 50 years ago, every Asian economy,
including that of Japan was regarded as economies with
little hope for dynamism or progress. We were all hopeless
cases. We were all regarded, at one time or another, in the
same way that Somalia or Ethiopia are regarded today. And
what is worse, many of us believed in the picture that was
painted of us and of our future.
13. Now, there is a surprising trend to minimise all that
we have accomplished and to argue that even if we have done
well in the past, we don't have much of a future. We are
destined to slow down. The East Asian miracle is actually
not a miracle. It is a flash in the pan. Whatever it is,
it is finished.
14. No-one contests the fact that over the last generation
we grew on average two and a half times as fast as the
European countries, two and a half times faster than Latin
America and 25 times faster than sub-Saharan Africa. The
mathematical probability of all of us in this region growing
like we have is 10,000 to one.
15. I am constantly surprised by the number of great minds
from outside Asia who believe that the astonishingly
positive accomplishments that have been made in East Asia in
the last half century cannot be sustained. At the same
time, there is the equally remarkable assumption that every
failure and weakness of the last fifty years cannot but be
sustained.
16. In other words, it can be assumed that we in East Asia,
who have produced results never before achieved in world
history, cannot continue to do all the good things we have
so far achieved. On the other hand it can be safely assumed
that all the bad things will continue.
17. This belief in our infinite ability to fail and in our
limited ability to succeed is touching. There are
predictions galore. Malaysia's political stability for
example cannot be sustained. It is only a surface
phenomenon. Underneath there is turmoil and any time now it
will burst like a boil. Why, even the twin towers we are
building are tilting and will soon fall over. How can
they, how dare they try to be one up against their seniors.
Some day it will happen. If it does not then just wait. It
will happen.
18. If East Asians have been good at anything, we have been
good at confronting problems, facing challenges and
surmounting obstacles. Very often, we have done better than
others not because we are smarter. Very often others are
much smarter than us. We have done better because we have
been pretty good at doing what needs to be done, even if
this is utterly against the so-called accepted norms, the
norms formulated because the formulators have forgotten
their past and in any way are not in a position to breach
them, having lost their colonies and their claims to
supremacy.
19. If we believe that the next great economic crusade we
must launch must be the crusade for efficiency and
productivity, not just for human resource development or
foreign investments, I somehow suspect that we are going to
see a massive crusade for efficiency and productivity in
this region. The consequences of this crusade, I also
suspect, will be even greater efficiency and productivity.
20. Even as there are those who accept our undeniable
economic feats and go on to argue that we cannot continue to
succeed, there are so many, especially among the controllers
of the Western Press, who concede that our strategic
environment is better now than since the end of World War II
or even since the mid-19th century. But they go on to argue
that our peace cannot possibly last.
21. As to why this peace and stability can't go on, many
scenarios are conjured up. Perhaps North Korea will acquire
nuclear weapons. This was a hot favourite in 1994. Perhaps
you will fight on the Korean Peninsula. This was a hot
favourite for many months last year. Perhaps Taiwan might
declare independence. China would then be forced to take
military action. This was another favourite war scenario
and seems to be hard to lay to rest despite the fact that
the Taiwanese electorate recently delivered a clear verdict:
they don't want war with China; ergo, no playing the fool
with independence.
22. Besides the perennial Korean War scenario, which has
always been utilisable over the last 40 years, there are
three trusty bogies. First, the arms acquisitions in East
Asia. Second, the South China Sea. Third, and this can
always be counted upon to be the all-purpose block-buster,
the "China threat".
23. The naivete of the victors of the Pacific War when
imposing a one percent of GDP limit on Japan's arms spending
reflects the belief that Japan would be down and out
forever. Today they know that one percent of Japan's GDP is
much more than what many European nations can afford to
spend on arms.
24. It would be obvious to everyone that as a country's
economy grows, its expenditure on arms will also grow. The
percentage of the GDP or whatever may remain the same, but
in absolute amounts the expenditure can be very big indeed.
25. The situation is not improved by the agressive
marketing of arms by the West. Their salesmen point out the
threats that each Asian country faces and persuade us to buy
their sure fire weapons. No sooner had we bought when they
tell us that our potential enemy has better weapons and can
only be countered by the new weapons that their Governments
have now just allowed us to acquire. Of course they sell to
the potential enemy as well, probably telling the same
story; that we have acquired this deadly weapon and they
should have a particular weapon which has just been taken
off the restricted list and is now available for
acquisition. And so it goes on, with more and more
effective weapons being invented at massive cost and
necessitating their worldwide sale to recover the financial
outlay.
26. In the meantime, the so-called Western controlled free
press reports on arms race going on in Asia, completely
ignoring the involvement of the West in the sales of these
weapons. It never occurred to them to stop the billion-
dollar researches on weapons of destruction going on in
their own countries.
27. If there is a threat, that threat is not from Asian
countries. Asia knows that the threat comes from outside
Asia, from countries which are forever upgrading their
capacities to kill and destroy. All the Asian countries put
together cannot match the $265 billion budget for the arm
forces by just one western country. Who is the enemy one
may ask? Is it any one of us in Asia? The regard and
respect for Asia is best exemplified by their choice of
sites for testing their nuclear weapons. And yet Asians are
being told that they must arm against other Asians, and not
against those who obviously regard Asians as enemies who
must be made to appreciate the forces ranged against them.
28. Yes, Asians are arming. But they are arming
commensurate with the level of their economic development
and to fulfill their legitimate security needs. They would
rather not arm, but they are not reassured when, despite
their independence they are perpetually being badgered to do
this and that and the other. They cannot but feel
threatened when powerful Asian economies are instructed not
to talk to some Asian countries which are mere non-entities,
because the leaders of these countries did not wear coat and
tie when the envoy of the powerful called.
29. Despite the overbearing attitude of those outside Asia,
Asia and Asians must never be confrontative. The Asian
renaissance must presage a better world, a world free from
power politics, of covert imperialism, of threats and
impositions.
30. I have enraged many in the past by talking of a New
Asia, by envisioning an achieving Asia. What impertinence!
31. I have also enraged many by envisioning an independent
and contributing New Asia. Apparently it is not acceptable
that Asia has a contribution to make, that it is high time
for Asia to stop making apologies, to rise to its feet.
32. Many in Asia believe that we do have values and ways of
doing things which are, for want of a better word, "Asian".
This is heresy to those who believe only in their own values
and ways of doing things as being universal. Cannot Asian
values too form a basis for universal values? Is it that
non-Asians have a monopoly to determine what is right and
what is wrong and Asians don't?
33. When something is universal, then it must be found
everywhere in this world if not the universe. If it is not
found in such a large chunk of the world as Asia
constitutes, can it then be said to be universal?
34. Asians do believe in human rights, in press freedom, in
democracy, in the rule of law. We do believe in the
goodness of being good and the badness of being bad. But we
also care for the results.
35. Recently when the confrontation between the U.S.
Government and the Republican resulted in a shut down of the
Government, the first comment of an American media
personality is that it reflects democracy. The hardships
and the travails of some hundreds of thousands of Government
employees are irrelevant as long as democracy is upheld.
36. Imagine an Asian country having such a Government shut-
down. Would it be described as democratic? More likely it
will be labelled as anarchic, as Asian incompetence, Asian
politics, Asian selfishness and uncaring attitude.
37. But the shut-down did not happen in Asia. It did not
because Asians interprete human rights and the rule of law
as being for the good of the majority, not the freedom for a
few politicians, or for that matter the leaders of the
perpetually disgruntled minority parties or trade unions.
They can have their freedom but their right is restricted to
hurting only themselves. If they hurt innocent bystanders
then they are abusing their democratic right. They must not
hold others, hold society at large to ransom.
38. Is this so wrong? Is caring for the majority of the
people, caring for their welfare and indeed their freedom
from the oppression of the few so wrong? Is it so wrong for
Asians to reject the touted universalism of Western values
and adhere to their own? Indeed cannot they claim that
their values too should be accepted as universal?
39. But of course Asians and Asian countries should not
seek to impose on others as much as they resent having other
values imposed on them. Asians must prove that their
values, their ethics, their cultures have merit and benefit
the community. The best way to do this is of course to
sustain our peace, to develop our economies and to practise
democracy pragmatically.
40. The Renaissance of Asia has actually been going on
unnoticed. It is time that we make ourselves aware of it.
We should come together, not to confront others, not to form
a trade bloc, not to be obstreperous and arrogant. As much
as we should not be apologetic, we should bear no grudges.
We must only assert our democratic rights, as nations, to be
equal and not to allow ourselves to be mentally,
informationally and diplomatically bludgeoned. We must
point out that it is undemocratic of others to stop us from
forming a talking shop like the EAEC when they themselves
are forming protectionist trade blocs.
41. This Asian Renaissance must be a psychological and
cultural rebirth, freeing us from the bonds of mental
servitude and enriching our arts and our cultures. It must
be an economic renaissance, vigorously propelling our
material condition of life forward whilst ensuring social
and economic justice for all our citizens. It must be a
political renaissance, founded upon the richest development
of different forms of democracy and the greatest respect for
and nourishment of all the rights of the individual person
in the contact of community rights in which the individual
exists.
42. This Asian Renaissance must also be a social
renaissance, righting the wrongs of centuries, providing
dignity, egalitarianism and opportunity to all regardless of
gender, position, race, colour or creed. It will confront
no one, no country, no continent.
43. The task will not be easy. There will be opposition.
The proxies of those opposed to the Asian Renaissance will
be the tyranny of the western controlled International News
Media.
44. They have a vested interest to see that the Asian
rebirth is aborted, partly because bad news make money for
them and partly because the West to which they belong feel
threatened. They want the status quo because it upholds
their tyranny, their right to deny news which do not fit
their agenda, to promote their own views and to give them
the role of king-makers everywhere.
45. It is dangerous to call a tyrant a tyrant in his face.
In the old days one would be incarcerated in prison and left
to rot. The modern equivalent to this is adverse and
damaging publicity and news which undermine leaders and
nations and stunt their economic and political health.
Western journalists and in particular newscasters are used
to having their victims cringe during interviews. They
enjoy this sense of power. And they will not hesitate to
use it to prevent the Asian Renaissance.
46. So the rebirth of Asia is not going to be easy. But
Asians must work at it and work hard. Only success will
ensure that we will be treated as equals and given our place
on this planet.
47. We must pursue this Asian Renaissance not as a response
to anyone; not as a challenge to any continent. We must
pursue this Asian renaissance as a response to the needs of
our people and in devotion to our duty to our nations. Not
to do so is to betray the promise of our future.