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Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : UNIVERSITY OF AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND
Tarikh/Date : 28/03/96
Tajuk/Title : THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE NEW
ZEALAND ASIA INSTITUTE
First of all, please let me thank the Vice-
Chancellor of the University of Auckland for
inviting me to speak before you today and to
officially open The New Zealand Asia Institute. I
take it that the establishment of this Institute and
the founding of the Chair of Malay Studies in the
University of Victoria, Wellington signify a desire
to know more about Asia and the need on the part of
New Zealand and the New Zealanders to relate to
their northern neighbours. This is a welcome change
for New Zealand cannot always regard itself as a
part of Europe, a distant outpost of Europe. In the
past, New Zealanders bypassed Asia on their way to
Europe, Britain in particular. Trade was also with
Europe for Asians preferred cotton to the wool that
you produce, eat rice rather than wheat, ghee rather
than butter and cheese. Asian industries were in
their infancy and did not need the raw materials you
produce. Migration and settlement by Asians were
often forbidden.
2. But the past have now passed. Market
configurations and trade patterns have changed.
Europe now produced all the food it used to import
from the Antipodes. Politically it has ceased to
consider ethnicity as a basis for distant
relationship. Geographical proximity and regions
have displaced historical links. Even the
Commonwealth has lost its place in the British
scheme of things.
3. On the other hand, Asia and in particular East
Asia has emerged as a dynamic region. The people of
East Asia have not only become more affluent but
their ways of life have changed. They have
developed a taste for butter and cheese, bread and
wine, oysters and steaks. Wool in greater and
lesser quantities have become the preferred material
for clothing, blended with synthetic fibres of
course. Their burgeoning industries need the coal
and iron ore from this part of the world. And their
airlines fly them for holidays in the South, where
they have bought property, resorts and other
businesses.
4. It is perhaps necessary for New Zealand to take
note and adjust. Perceptions of Asia need to be
changed and a new relationship needs to be
developed. An Institute such as this should serve a
useful purpose and should help in enlightening New
Zealand about Asia and bring New Zealanders and
Asians together in a more congenial atmosphere. We
believe that New Zealanders should find no
difficulty in adjusting. The culture of New
Zealanders should facilitate this, for New
Zealanders are naturally friendly and hospitable.
Although the Maoris may have very good reasons not
to be happy with their lot, but at least they are
still around. In some countries indigenous people
have been wiped out, deliberately or otherwise by
the new settlers. It is a measure of the tolerance
of New Zealanders that there are Maoris today to
demand their rights and indeed to be accorded some
of this.
5. It should therefore be easy for New Zealanders
to adjust to the new realities about Asia.
6. Asia of course is not homogenous as Europe is
homogenous. Asians are Asians not because of
ethnicity but because they belong to a geographical
entity. Otherwise they differ from each other
greatly; differ by colour, culture, history,
religion, language and many other features. Yet
despite being very different they seem to be
classifiable as Asians. Perhaps it is the Europeans
who group them together. But they do feel a vague
sense of unity, and they can easily identify with
each other especially in the presence of Europeans.
7. Historical evidence shows that the earliest
civilisations were found in Asia. Certainly
European civilisation owes much to the spread of
Christianity, one of the three major monotheistic
religions originating in Asia. The Mediterranean
civilisation may antidate Christianity but when Asia
already had many civilised communities, Europe was
still very primitive.
8. Looking back to past glories does not justify
the present need to be respected and to be treated
as equals. But the importance of past achievements
lies in the fact that they can be replicated. If
Asia was a greater civilisation than Europe once
was, can it not be as advanced as Europe now? There
is nothing inherently inferior in the Asians as
there is nothing inherently superior in Europeans.
9. History is full of empires which emerge almost
out of nowhere, bloom and expanded to greatness and
then faded away. And in their places new empires and
great nations moved in. For a while they seemed
destined to last forever. But then they too
stumble, weaken and disintegrate.
10. Some factors must be at work. And these
factors cannot be so mysterious that they cannot be
learnt and duplicated. Provided a correct analysis
is made, any country or continent can apply the
lessons of the past in order to achieve greatness or
at least a reasonable semblance of it.
11. Europe achieved greatness because Europeans
were once prepared to work and venture forth and
take risks and accept dangers. They sailed
thousands of miles from their shores looking for
trade. They did not set forth to build empires.
But empires were thrust upon them. They found the
countries they seek to trade with weak and broken,
superstitious and gullible and ready to submit.
They found that to compete among European nations,
trading stations had to be set up which readily
expanded into substantial territories and so into
empires.
12. Asian nations achieved greatness with much the
same zeal, though they were less concerned about
trade. They set out to spread religion and acquire
territories. The Arabs, the Turks and the Mongols
were also bent on conquest and loot. If they could
stay, they occupied; if not they carried away the
riches, the slaves and the women. They were
adventurous, fearless and ruthless. And they built
empires of varying durability. The Arab conquered,
built great civilisations, then shrank and
fragmented. Today Asian Arabs still occupy much of
North Africa, the lands not of the Africans that we
know today but the Mediterranean peoples including
the Phoenecians, the Carthaginians and others.
13. The Persian empire ebbed and flowed, competing
with Byzantium in the West and then with the Muslim
Arabs. The Persians were not defeated, rather they
accepted the religion of the Arabs, albeit in a
different form. From then on, the contest was
between religions rather than empires.
14. Then came the Turks, the nomadic peoples of
Western China and Central Asia. They moved West
across the Central Asian plains founding new nations
as they went along. Their progress was unstoppable.
Eastern Europe fell to the Ottoman Turks who had by
then accepted Islam. For a long time the Ottomans
came to be regarded as an Asian superpower, so
powerful that Europe trembled when the Sultan of
Turkey rattled his jewelled sword.
15. In Central Asia the Turks founded great
nations. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan,
Azerbaijan, Chechnya, Ingustia and others emerged,
prospered through being part of the Silk Road, made
scientific and cultural progress and off and on
spawned empires led by great leaders such as Taimur
the Lame, otherwise known as Tammerlane in the West.
16. But the greatest feat of Empire building among
Asians was that of the Mongols. A primitive nomadic
people divided into small tribes of herdsmen, there
was nothing about the Mongols to mark them as great
empire builders. But a single man, Temujin, a
tribal leader emerged, fought his way to the
leadership of all the Mongols, and gathering a huge
armed cavalry force, speedily defeated Turks, Arabs,
Persians, Russians and Eastern Europeans, to build
the greatest empire in history, spreading from the
Chinese Pacific shores to Moscow in the North and
the Balkans in the West. Cruel and ruthless,
Genghiz Khan destroyed everything that stood in his
way, killing hundreds of thousands of the people he
conquered, raping and ransacking their cities for
booty and for slaves.
17. But the Empire was shortlived, at least as a
Mongol Empire. By the third generation of Genghiz's
family, it had broken up, but not before founding
great countries. China was united by Kublai Khan
and remains a single nation to this day where once
it was fragmented into a number of relatively
independent provinces ruled by warlords. In India
the Mogul Empire was founded which helped to create
a single united India from the numerous
principalities which formerly occupied the vast
Indian sub-continent.
18. Modern Turkey also owed something to the
Mongols for the Mongols too accepted Islam and
integrated with the people of Turkish origin. Thus
the people of Central Asia, largely Turkish seem to
bear Mongol features. Many indeed look more Chinese
than Indo-Europeans.
19. The Mongol Empire may have disintegrated and
disappeared. Modern Mongolia is anything but the
seat of an empire. But the Mongols left an
indelible mark in all the countries they had
conquered.
20. The question that begs to be asked is - how did
a backward, nomadic Asian tribe of herdsmen achieve
such greatness? The answer lies in their logistical
skill. They were the forerunners of the German
Panzers, the highly mobile regiments which
constantly surprised their enemies. For the Mongol
equivalent of the German motorised regiments were
the fast cavalry, lightly armoured and agile. The
heavily armoured Europeans on their armoured horses
were unable to move quickly enough to escape the
slash and thrust of Mongol swords. Their ability to
shoot arrows while galloping at full speed; the
orderly division of their army into distinct and
integrated units of tens, hundreds, thousands and
ten thousand with distinct lines of command, and
their ability to move vast numbers of soldiers and
supplies swiftly; all these contributed to their
success. Yet the question remains. How did a
primitive nomadic race of herdsman develop such
amazing military skills as to defeat practically
everyone in their path? Such is the enigma of the
Mongols. Surely anyone interested in nation
building can learn something from the Mongol
experience.
21. But Asia is more than just Turks and Mongols
and Persians and Arabs. There is the 4000 year old
civilisation of the Chinese, the Middle Kingdom,
advanced in the arts and the sciences, a
civilisation that knew technological advances when
Europeans were still living in caves dressed in
animal skins.
22. Japanese civilisation is 2600 years old and
that of Korea not much younger. Even in the Malay
Archipelago there was Sri Vijaya and Majapahit, to
name a few of the civilisations of the brown people.
23. Why do I tell you these tales of bygone Asian
empires and successes? It is because I believe
that what people could do in the past, they can do
again now. I would hasten to add that I don't think
Asian countries would be setting out to conquer the
world once again, to build empires. I don't think
that China and Japan are about or should start wars
of conquest in order to reestablish Asian
capabilities and greatness.
24. Empires are not made this way now. Conquests
and occupations are things of the past. They are
destructive of your quarry or objective. Conquered,
countries become burdens to the conquerors. And far
too often they do not remain long as your colonies
or vassals. They fight and drain your wealth. And
finally they regain their independence, bitter and
vengeful, demanding compensation for true and
imagined brutalities.
25. The modern empires are economic, created
through trade and economic relations. Quite often
there is political dominance as well, although
military occupation in whatever form is unlikely.
And trade can only be done with prosperous
countries. Helping a country to become prosperous
is helping your ownself, for prosperous countries
make good markets for your exports.
26. Asian countries now seek to build such empires,
exclusive if they can but usually shared with
others, Asians and Europeans or Americans. Asians
have now found the formula for equality and a more
benign imperialism. The first thing they have to do
is to get their own houses in order. They must
govern their countries well, caring for their
peoples and striving for their support. They must
provide a Government of the People through
democratic means.
27. When political stability is achieved they can
focus on economic development. Technology must be
acquired and developed. The people must be educated
and trained. They must be responsible to themselves
and their communities, avoiding strife and
disruptions. They must produce and they must market
their products efficiently and competitively. They
must achieve economic prosperity at par with the
most developed nations of the world.
28. Some Asian countries will be economically more
powerful than others. But they will all be
prosperous, will be able to throw away the begging
bowl, the need for aid and the need to buy
protection from outside powers.
29. The Asian countries are now well placed to
achieve all these. For the first time all the Asian
countries are independent and East Asia, including
Southeast Asia is free from war. Peace seats
comfortably on them and they are not idling. They
are all working very hard to better themselves.
30. Unfortunately they are not all free from
Western domination. Western forces are still
present in their countries, though by their own
consent. But the element of domination is still
there in some countries. They must not do what they
like. They may not even associate with countries in
their neighbourhood which are not approved. They
may not join any association of countries without
approval.
31. But the Asian countries will soldier on. They
will secure their independence and go on to achieve
greater economic strength. They will eventually
achieve greatness. They will once again become
imperial nations, not territorially speaking but
economically speaking.
32. Asia and the Asians will once again be world
players. Their voices will once again be heard and
respected in world affairs. They will not dominate
the world but their place in the world order of
things will be secured.
33. The Far East, that exotic place is no more.
East Asia is in the West, West of America that is.
The Eurocentric world is finished, as much as the
Middle Kingdom is no more. The world is round. Any
part or any point in it can be the centre; the
reference point. Everyone must reorientate himself.
34. The people of the West Pacific are Asians. So
when you study the Asians and Asia at the New
Zealand Asia Institute, think of them as Westeners.
America is in the East and Europe is the Far East.
The People of Asia, the Neo-Westerners have no
designs on the Eastern people. They only want to be
fairly treated, respected and accepted as the equals
of everyone.
35. If at this Institute you are correctly
orientated and you have discarded previous
misconceptions and the prejudices which went with
Eurocentrism, then you will be well on the way to
understanding Asians. And with that understanding
you will be well-placed to deal with the new reality
of a resurgent Asia. It would be good for the Asian
neo-Western people; it would be good for everyone.
The world would be a better place in every way.
36. I welcome the founding of the New Zealand Asia
Institute and I am delighted to officially declare
open this Institute.
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