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Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD Tempat/Venue : NIRWANA BALLROOM, KUALA LUMPUR HILTON Tarikh/Date : 27/05/98 Tajuk/Title : THE OFFICIAL OPENING CEREMONY OF THE COMMONWEALTH YOUTH MINISTERS` MEETING Delivered by YB Tan Sri Dato' Hj Muhyiddin bin Hj Mohd Yassin, Minister of Youth and Sports Firstly, I would like to extend a very warm welcome to the Hon. Ministers of Youth from the Commonwealth countries and the Secretary General of the Commonwealth to Malaysia. I am indeed honoured to be invited to address this distinguished audience . I also wish to thank them for voting Malaysia to be the host of this Meeting in Kuala Lumpur today, the last host being the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in 1995. Malaysia is appreciative of the confidence placed in it to host the world's second largest sporting event -- the Commonwealth Games, in September this year. 2. As members of the Commonwealth, we share certain common background and values. Most of us fought hard for our independence and we now want to be and remain truly independent. We do not want to be recolonised by other means. This freedom and real independence must therefore be defended. This is especially true with the onset of globalisation and trade liberalisation, something which, unproperly handled may result in some of us losing part of our independence. 3. Global challenges which will confront us as we move into the next millenium will be tough and will take many forms. Our success will be a function of many factors. For us to take on these challenges we must develop and fully exploit our human resources -- those of the young in particular. I hope this Meeting will be able to address issues involving youths and come up with ideas and policies which can make important contributions towards achieving peace and stability worldwide and prevent the exploitation of the weak which can cause social tensions and social disintegration. Indeed the Commonwealth countries are in a unique position to consult each other, to learn from each other's cultures and to exchange knowledge and experiences. A meeting such as this will go a long way towards building a more equitable world. 4. The young generation of today is faced with a number of unprecedented challenges. Scientific discoveries from biotechnology to the microchips may bring about a lot of benefits but their abuse can result in human misery, sometimes on a massive scale. We have seen in this region whole countries becoming impoverished overnight almost. We have seen invisible external forces wield more power than the democratic process in determining issues. While the ease of communication and the Internet have enabled us to reach out directly to our colleagues and others worldwide, they have also been the means to spread false news and rumours and to character assasinate individuals, their faiths and their loyalties. 5. Society and Governments are no longer in a position to protect and mould the future generation. Not only has it become technically impossible but massive campaigns have made any effort to keep national identities and values as undesirable and constitute a denial of human rights. 6. In our attempt to achieve a better quality of life for our people, a new set of values for a new civilisation must be forged. We therefore need to build up a new generation of high calibre visionaries to lead the world. The youth of today are the political, societal and corporate leaders of tomorrow. The youths of today must equip themselves with all the knowledge and analytical skills so they may assess, accept or reject present-day values and concepts and conceive new and more relevant values in keeping with the Information Age that we are moving into. While the old may no longer be suitable, the new may also be harmful if care is not exercised and the choices made or conceived are based on shallow knowledge or experience. 7. We cannot afford to make too many mistakes remembering that so many of the ideologies conceived at the beginning of this century, Socialism and Communism for example, had retarded the growth and development of so many countries. Indeed these ideologies had resulted in hot and cold wars, killing millions of people and destroying much of the wealth of many nations. 8. If the younger generation are prepared to accept a new mission and vision, they will be able to contribute towards the development of themselves and their countries. For Malaysia we have a clear vision of the direction and the objectives we want to achieve. We want to become a developed country in our own mould. And we want to achieve this by working with other countries in a kind of partnership which we call smart partnership, i.e. a partnership in which all the partners gain, not one in which one partner gains at the expense of the other. 9. It is good that today the focus of Governments everywhere is economic development and the well-being of their people. But the achievement of economic development need certain initiatives and strategies. Some developing countries have apparently found the right formula. We should not keep our winning formula to ourselves. We should share it with everyone for sharing is smart. It is smart because the prosperity and success of one country benefits other countries. For a trading nation like Malaysia having poor trading partners is no good at all. We feel that it is in our interest to help our trading partners to prosper. It is also good for our partners and that is a bonus which we have no objection to. 10. History is a record of changes which take place within human society, within units of human society, big and small. The most successful units are those which are prepared to change and to adjust to changes. Conservative societies become ossified, resisting change and refusing to adjust. In the tussle between the conservatives and the progressives, almost invariably the progressives, the ones who accept and make use of changes, win. 11. As the new millenium approaches the variety of the changes and the speed with which changes take place in every field have increased. Accepting and adjusting become more difficult and many will be side-lined and left behind. 12. Unfortunately changes are not always for the good. Unless a society is skillful at evaluating the changes it may regress instead of progress. 13. Globalisation has now become a catchword which it is fashionable to mouth. What globalisation means is that countries and nation states have become passJ and outdated. In the globalised world global players will dominate. They will determine the direction and the progress of the world. They will brush aside Governments, whether elected or otherwise. 14. We are already seeing this happening. Governments are now being disciplined and even deposed by market forces, the name given to those who control international capital. The cost in human misery is irrelevant. The important thing is that market forces as an element of globalisation must not be obstructed. 15. To criticise market forces is to blaspheme and become a heretic. Through the control of the apparatus of mass communication the heretic will be denounced and ex-communicated. 16. Yet globalisation can be a factor for the good of all. Imagine if all the capital and technology belong to the world and not to any particular country, then all the profits and the royalties will accrue to every world citizen. Unfortunately the present interpretation of globalisation does not accept this. 17. The picture I have painted may look grim. But there can be no denying that the recent attacks on a nation's currency and the free movements of vast sums of money across borders have resulted in more than 20 million workers, executives and professionals losing their jobs. In countries too poor to have unemployment benefits that means no money to buy food, medicine, milk for the children and eventually clothing and shelter. 18. The Governments of these countries may be blamed. But these self-same Governments had developed their countries until they are recognised as economic tigers. Could their robust economies collapse suddenly if their currencies had not been grossly devalued and their companies bankrupted through depressing their share prices? 19. You are the future. You are the ones who will live fully in the globalised world and the new theology. You may not agree with what I have said. But I hope before you dismiss it you will study it carefully. For nearly 100 years a good part of the world accepted socialism and communism as the answer to the inequities in human society. It wasn't easy to counter and discard a universally accepted ideology. Millions had to die and millions more suffered poverty and deprivation because those with vested interest in the ideology did not allow criticism or contrary ideas to flower. If we don't examine now the new religion that are being foisted on the world, very soon we will be forbidden from doing so. Then it will be too late. 20. On that note I hereby declare the Commonwealth Youth Ministers' Meeting open. |