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Oleh/By : DATO SERI DR MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : HOTEL OKURA, JAPAN
Tarikh/Date : 03/06/2003
Tajuk/Title : THE 15TH ANNIVERSARY SYMPOSIUM
OF THE INSTITUTE FOR
INTERNATIONAL POLICY
STUDIES (IIPS)
Versi : ENGLISH
Penyampai : PM
"The Asian Dimension under the New World Order"
- Evolving Paradigms in Asia and Japan
I would like to thank the Institute for
International Policy Studies for inviting me to speak
at this 15th Anniversary Symposium of the institute. I
hope I can do justice to the subject "The Asian
Dimension under the New World Order". Asia is
obviously set to play a bigger role in world affairs.
But Asia is a very big continent and it is not as
evenly developed as Europe. Nor are the people
ethnically or culturally similar. Only one country in
Asia is developed and that is Japan. South Korea and
China are fast moving up but South East Asia and the
Indian sub-continent are behind China and Korea. The
other countries of Asia, i.e. Central and West Asia,
have not really made much progress.
2. Consequently Asia cannot present itself as a
single entity with common stands on international
issues.
3. Besides at the moment Asians are not
psychologically prepared to play their role in
international affairs. They still tend to defer to the
Europeans. Perhaps this is a relic of the old European
domination of Asia.
4. Here I would like to explain that by European I
mean people of European extraction whether they now
call themselves Americans, Canadians, Australians or
New Zealanders. They may be living outside of Europe
but culturally they are Europeans and they tend to
close ranks when faced with challenges by non-
Europeans.
5. The tie is not just ethnic but also religious, for
Europeans, nominally at least are Christians and as
Christians their old enmity towards Islam in particular
still colour their thinking. They were at one time
more anti-Jew or anti-Semitic. But horrified by the
Holocaust they now bend over backwards in order to
atone for their crimes. Such is their about turn that
they are willing to tolerate the crimes committed by
Israel.
6. If Asia is to play a role in shaping the New World
Order, the first thing that it must do is to rid itself
of its historical baggage. Perhaps Asians should
remind themselves that they were civilised long before
the Europeans emerged from their caves.
7. In history we find many instances when backward
people managed to catch up and then outstrip the more
developed ones. The Europeans achieved this. But by
the same token Asians can catch up with the Europeans,
and take their rightful place on the world stage.
8. At the moment ideas, values and systems which have
been accepted by the world are of European origin.
They claim that their values are in fact universal
values and that there is no such thing as Asian values.
If there are then they must be wrong or inferior. And
so today's universal values are basically European.
9. The nation state is a European concept, along with
ideas about human rights, freedom and democracy. And
now we have to accept borderlessness and globalisation
which effectively denies the independence of nations.
And Asia does not protest.
10. Although it is seemingly a reversal of European
thinking, it can be just a ploy to break down the
barriers to their exploitation of the wealth of the
entities created by their idea of nation states,
independence and freedom. They themselves would remain
very much nation states by other means.
11. Asians have never reversed a concept promoted by
the Europeans. They would feel guilty of not acceding
to universally accepted values and ideas as propounded
by European propaganda. And yet when the Europeans
apparently reversed their ideas Asians feel bound to
accept them.
12. It would seem that Asians are not merely bereft of
ideas but they suffer from a mind block which prevents
them from critically examining whatever thoughts
emanate from the Europeans and when necessary reject
them. They would not be able to reject the nation
state in favour of globalisation if it had not been
initiated by the Europeans.
13. Some of the ideas coming from the Europeans are
obviously harmful. Market liberalisation and
deregulation are among them.
14. The world's economy was growing quite well before
the idea of liberalisation and deregulations in a
borderless world was mooted. Indeed Japan's rapid
recovery and the growth of Korea and Southeast Asia
owed nothing to trade liberalisation and the "rule-
based" trading of the free market. (Here I would like
to point out that a free market with rule-based trading
are contradictions in terms). Of course there were
faults in the old system of international trade. But
must the answer be total free trade and the removal of
national boundaries. Cannot there be something less
extreme?
15. But Asians did not question the idea of free trade
and the accompanying changes. We not only accepted
them but many ardently believe that they are good in
themselves. Even after their prosperous economies
were being destroyed by this regime, they have not
altered their commitment.
16. But most of the European countries reject free
trade when it hurts them. They did not hesitate to
bail out their hedge funds, automobile industries and
airlines. And their farming is strongly protected. At
the slightest threat they would impose countervailing
duties and other non-tariff barriers.
17. Transparency is vigorously advocated in all
business dealings. But hedge funds whose dealings are
far bigger than the value of total world trade, need
not be transparent. And yet these funds can cause
great harm to the economy of countries and of whole
regions.
18. It is clear that the systems and regimes promoted
by the Europeans are not binding upon them. It is
clear also that they have no hesitation in ignoring
their own paradigms if it suits them. Yet Asians still
maintain their faith in those European initiated ideas
even if they suffer continuously from them.
19. If Asia wants to play a role in the determination
of a new world order it is necessary that it learns to
be more critical of ideas and concepts coming out of
the West. If it cannot do this then it is most
unlikely to play a meaningful role in the shaping of a
New World Order.
20. The Japanese people have been accused of being
copycats. They used to produce inferior imitations of
European products. After the end of the Pacific War
Japan decided to produce high quality products while
maintaining low prices. Japan succeeded admirably.
But it was still considered a copycat nation.
21. Change of course can be for the good or for the
worse. When Japan decided to modernise it also adopted
the wrong European values. Coming out of isolation you
decided to acquire an empire through conquest. You now
sincerely regret that wrong decision. But is there a
need to go into reverse gear and reject a role in Asia?
It is obvious that if Japan wishes to play a role
together with other leading Asian countries, Japan's
contribution would be immense.
22. The approach to be adopted by Asia need not be
that of the Europeans. We need not conquer or dominate
in order to have our values and ideas accepted.
Japan's formula for success has prompted other
countries in Asia to adopt it of their own free will.
23. There have been many good ideas coming out of the
West. But the Europeans have time and again been
proven wrong. That is why the Europeans have discarded
them in favour of new ones.
24. Let us examine their ideologies. Their absolute
monarchies which created many of their empires gave way
to republicanism which was claimed to be the most
perfect system to govern human society. They shouted
"Liberte, Egalite and Fraternite" even as they
massacred the aristocrats. Then there was the
ascendancy of the capitalists during the Industrial
Revolution and the expansion of their empires. But the
excesses of capitalism lead to socialism and the
Communist ideology. These ideologies were supposed to
create heaven on earth, but after only 70 years they
changed their minds and discarded these egalitarian
ideas.
25. Now capitalism is back with a vengeance.
Liberalisation, deregulation, free trade, borderless
world, transparency, etc are all the products of
domineering capitalism.
26. Nothing must stop capitalism. Just as General
Motors, once claimed that what was good for General
Motors was good for the United States, now we are being
told that what is good for Capitalism will be good for
the world. No one should challenge Capitalism.
27. But history has shown repeatedly that ideologies
go through a cycle; appearing, fighting resistance,
succeeding and becoming popular (usually at huge cost
in human lives) and then failing to deliver and to be
discredited. Finally they are condemned and discarded.
28. There is no reason why the present manifestation
of capitalism and even democracy should not go through
the same cycle. The point that has to be made is that
all ideologies, formulas or systems are imperfect.
They will fail eventually. They will fail because of
the excesses of those who practice them. And we are
now seeing excesses and excessive zeal in the promotion
of capitalism and democracy.
29. But should we wait for them to fail at tremendous
cost to the world community or should we now critically
examine these ideas with a new to modifying or
replacing them.
30. It is in this process that Asians can contribute.
Asians have their own ways. We should not try to
impose our way as the Europeans like to do. We should
devise our own systems and prove their goodness by
applying them to ourselves first. If we are successful
then others will follow. If we fail then we should be
prepared to modify or reject. We must never be so
fanatical about our own creations that even when we
fail or we get bad results we continue to insist on
upholding them. Results are far more important than
ideologies or systems.
31. We may feel lonely sometime as we flounder about
and meet violent oppositions. But there is no perfect
system. We must never be trapped into accepting all
and every interpretation of the initial ideas or
systems. On the other hand we must be willing to lend
our ears to adverse comments and criticisms in order to
improve on the original idea. It is not impossible for
Asians to accept and blend their ideas with those of
the Europeans and others. The result would still
reflect Asian inputs, Asian contribution to a New World
New Order.
32. The world order of today, as conceived by the
European is largely for the Europeans. The new world
order devised by all the peoples of the world must
benefit everyone in the world.
33. In this New World Order created by everyone for
everyone the uneven distribution of wealth would be
less likely.
34. In a modern country it is accepted that the rich
must pay taxes in order to be redistributed also to the
poor. Globalisation has effectively made the whole
world into one single country. Is it not right that
the rich countries should contribute to the development
of the poor countries?
35. The rich had undertaken to contribute 0.7 of their
GDP to aid the poor. Nearly all of them have reneged
on their promise. And so the poor have remained poor.
36. They, the poor, should of course not believe that
the world owes them a living. But on the other hand,
if the rich became rich by exploiting the poor either
directly or indirectly, it is fair that the rich help
raise the poor from their debilitating poverty.
37. The rich are right in not wanting the money they
contribute to be squandered by inefficient Governments.
There is a Chinese saying that when a man begs for
food, give him a fishing rod. He will then be free
from hunger always.
38. So give a fishing rod to the poor countries by
building for them the necessary infrastructures so they
may export their products and import their needs at
reasonable prices. Ports, airports, railways, roads,
water supply and electricity, will do this. Even as
these are being built, the jobs created would benefit
the people. And without doubt that benefit will be
self-multiplying.
39. I will admit that this was my proposal at a
conference in Boao, China. There was a deafening
silence. It is right to advocate the removal of
borders so the wealth of a country can be exploited by
the rich but to return some of that wealth to the
exploited country meets with utter silence.
40. I am not asking that Asians take up my suggestion.
But if we want to give an Asian dimension to a New
World Order, then it should be away from maximising
profits for the already rich but maximising benefits to
the poor. There may be other contributions that Asians
can make to create a better world. I believe truly that
Asians can contribute, positively to the creation of a
new world order which redistributes the bounty of this
earth in a much more equitable way. That should be
the Asian Dimension under the New World Order.
Sumber : Pejabat Perdana Menteri
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