APARTHEID, Nelson Mandela and the misery of African Man

To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born
Is to remain for ever a child
Cicero



If is true that Nelson Mandela did indeed “rendu homage à P.W.Botha” – Le Figaro 01/11/06, then the explanation for this will not be found in the “respect for the dead” or to “foster national reconciliation” –Mail & Guardian South Africa Editorial a propos of the shameful government’s offer of a state funeral for PW Botha -

The explanation for this bizarre homage will be found and should be found in the eternal lack of memory of the African man, even in those we have moral obligation of memory.

Without memory there is no history, but Apartheid is not even history yet; it is the present of millions.

P.W.Botha was a criminal and an admirer of German Nazi, as almost all authors of Apartheid. That he was forced to hand out power, because he knew that if he “wanted things to stay as they were, things would have to change” or, his death, is completely irrelevant.

That this criminal was not judged and punished during is life time tells us only about the weakness of those the power were handed. And it is once more the confirmation (if confirmation were needed) that” power is not given, is taken”.

That Nelson Mandela did agree with that circus called “tribunal for true and reconciliation” where small players of apartheid did go and cried and were given forgiveness by the bishop, one can understand that he had, maybe, no other alternative.

The big fishes and criminals of apartheid would never have accepted to surrender power peacefully without receiving in exchange complete immunity for their crimes against the” inferior race”.

That Nelson Mandela and ANC did keep their word means only that they were weak and that they have no memory, or both. And a strange lack of memory seems to affect Nelson Mandela.

We do have reasons to believe that Nelson Mandela lack of memory has nothing to do with age but rather with what seems this eternal and childish attitude of African man to forget and forgive the most appalling crimes committed against him: colonization, slave trade, apartheid- we forget everything and we forgive everything.

Maybe someone should tell this semi African god that although all African man should be grateful for his fight against apartheid, he has no legitimacy (precisely for what he became) to forget and forgive.
Otherwise he is not being a good a Christian; he is committing an act of treason against those we were less lucky than him in the fight against apartheid; those brothers and sisters that were killed, maimed, made to disappear; he is committing an act of treason against the south African people condemned for so long by P.W.Bother and others architects of apartheid and admirers of Hitler to live a life of inferiority because they were…not white.

He is committing an act of treason against Cuba and those extraordinary Cubans that defeated the apartheid army in Angola and Namibia, helping “to convince” P.W.Botha that the game was over.

If is indeed true that Nelson Mandela did pay homage to P.W.Botha, he and the South African Government( for offering a state funeral to P.W.Botha) should apologize for this shameful and treachery act.

Never forget, Never forgive is the least that those we were lucky in the fight against the evil, owe those we were less lucky to see the light.

Azibo Abebe

We cannot fight them through muscles alone. We must use our brains also.

ALHAMDULILLAH, All Praise be to Allah, by whose Grace and Blessings we, the leaders of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) countries are gathered here today to confer and hopefully to plot a course for the future of Islam and the Muslim ummah worldwide. On behalf of the Government and the people of many races and religions of Malaysia, may I extend a warm welcome to all and everyone to this 10th Session of the Islamic Summit Conference in Putrajaya, Malaysia’s administrative capital. It is indeed a great honour for Malaysia to host this Session and to assume the chairmanship of the OIC. I thank the members for their confidence in Malaysia’s chairmanship. May I also take this opportunity to pay a special tribute to the State of Qatar, in particular His Highness Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa AI-Thani, the Emir of the State of Qatar, for his outstanding stewardship of our organisation over the past three years. As host, Malaysia is gratified at the high level of participation from member countries. This clearly demonstrates our continued and abiding faith in, and commitment to our organisation and our collective wish and determination to strengthen our role for the dignity and benefit of the ummah. I would also like to welcome the leaders and representatives of the many countries who wish to become observers at this meeting because of their substantial Muslim population. Whether they are Muslims or not, their presence at this meeting will help towards greater understanding of Islam and the Muslims, thus helping to disprove the perception of Islam as a religion of backwardness and terror. The whole world is looking at us. Certainly 1.3 billion Muslims, one-sixth of the world’s population are placing their hopes in us, in this meeting, even though they may be cynical about our will and capacity to even decide to restore the honour of Islam and the Muslims, much less to free their brothers and sisters from the oppression and humiliation from which they suffer today. I will not enumerate the instances of our humiliation and oppression, nor will I once again condemn our detractors and oppressors. It would be an exercise in futility because they are not going to change their attitudes just because we condemn them. If we are to recover our dignity and that of Islam, our religion, it is we who must decide, it is we who must act. To begin with, the governments of all the Muslim countries can close ranks and have a common stand if not on all issues, at least on some major ones, such as on Palestine. We are all Muslims. We are all oppressed. We are all being humiliated. But we who have been raised by Allah above our fellow Muslims to rule our countries have never really tried to act in concert in order to exhibit at our level the brotherhood and unity that Islam enjoins upon us. But not only are our governments divided, the Muslim ummah is also divided, and divided again and again. Over the last 1,400 years the interpreters of Islam, the learned ones, the ulamas have interpreted and reinterpreted the single Islamic religion brought by Prophet Muhammad S.A.W, so differently that now we have a thousand religions which are often so much at odds with one another that we often fight and kill each other. From being a single ummah we have allowed ourselves to be divided into numerous sects, mazhabs and tarikats, each more concerned with claiming to be the true Islam than our oneness as the Islamic ummah. We fail to notice that our detractors and enemies do not care whether we are true Muslims or not. To them we are all Muslims, followers of a religion and a Prophet whom they declare promotes terrorism, and we are all their sworn enemies. They will attack and kill us, invade our lands, bring down our governments whether we are Sunnis or Syiahs, Alawait or Druse or whatever. And we aid and abet them by attacking and weakening each other, and sometimes by doing their bidding, acting as their proxies to attack fellow Muslims. We try to bring down our governments through violence, succeeding to weaken and impoverish our countries. We ignore entirely and we continue to ignore the Islamic injunction to unite and to be brothers to each other, we the governments of the Islamic countries and the ummah. But this is not all that we ignore about the teachings of Islam. We are enjoined to Read, Iqraq, i.e. to acquire knowledge. The early Muslims took this to mean translating and studying the works of the Greeks and other scholars before Islam. And these Muslim scholars added to the body of knowledge through their own studies. The early Muslims produced great mathematicians and scientists, scholars, physicians and astronomers etc. and they excelled in all the fields of knowledge of their times, besides studying and practising their own religion of Islam. As a result the Muslims were able to develop and extract wealth from their lands and through their world trade, able to strengthen their defences, protect their people and give them the Islamic way of life, Addin, as prescribed by Islam. At the time the Europeans of the Middle Ages were still superstitious and backward, the enlightened Muslims had already built a great Muslim civilisation, respected and powerful, more than able to compete with the rest of the world and able to protect the ummah from foreign aggression. The Europeans had to kneel at the feet of Muslim scholars in order to access their own scholastic heritage. The Muslims were lead by great leaders like Abdul Rahman III, AI-Mansur, Salah El Din AI Ayubi and others who took to the battlefields at the head of their forces to protect Muslim land and the ummah. But halfway through the building of the great Islamic civilisation came new interpreters of Islam who taught that acquisition of knowledge by Muslims meant only the study of Islamic theology. The study of science, medicine etc. was discouraged. Intellectually the Muslims began to regress. With intellectual regression the great Muslim civilisation began to falter and wither. But for the emergence of the Ottoman warriors, Muslim civilisation would have disappeared with the fall of Granada in 1492. The early successes of the Ottomans were not accompanied by an intellectual renaissance. Instead they became more and more preoccupied with minor issues such as whether tight trousers and peak caps were Islamic, whether printing machines should be allowed or electricity used to light mosques. The Industrial Revolution was totally missed by the Muslims. And the regression continued until the British and French instigated rebellion against Turkish rule brought about the downfall of the Ottomans, the last Muslim world power and replaced it with European colonies and not independent states as promised. It was only after World War II that these colonies became independent. Apart from the new nation-states we also accepted the western democratic system. This also divided us because of the political parties and groups that we form, some of which claim Islam for themselves, reject the Islam of other parties and refuse to accept the results of the practice of democracy if they fail to gain power for themselves. They resort to violence, thus destabilising and weakening Muslim countries. With all these developments over the centuries the ummah and the Muslim civilisation became so weak that at one time there was not a single Muslim country which was not colonised or hegemonised by the Europeans. But regaining independence did not help to strengthen the Muslims. Their states were weak and badly administered, constantly in a state of turmoil. The Europeans could do what they liked with Muslim territories. It is not surprising that they should excise Muslim land to create the state of Israel to solve their Jewish problem. Divided, the Muslims could do nothing effective to stop the Balfour and Zionist transgression. Some would have us believe that, despite all these, our life is better than that of our detractors. Some believe that poverty is Islamic, sufferings and being oppressed are Islamic. This world is not for us. Ours are the joys of heaven in the afterlife. All that we have to do is to perform certain rituals, wear certain garments and put up a certain appearance. Our weakness, our backwardness and our inability to help our brothers and sisters who are being oppressed are part of the Will of Allah, the sufferings that we must endure before enjoying heaven in the hereafter. We must accept this fate that befalls us. We need not do anything. We can do nothing against the Will of Allah. But is it true that it is the Will of Allah and that we can and should do nothing? Allah has said in Surah Ar-Ra’d verse 11 that He will not change the fate of a community until the community has tried to change its fate itself. The early Muslims were as oppressed as we are presently. But after their sincere and determined efforts to help themselves in accordance with the teachings of Islam, Allah had helped them to defeat their enemies and to create a great and powerful Muslim civilisation. But what effort have we made especially with the resources that He has endowed us with. We are now 1.3 billion strong. We have the biggest oil reserve in the world. We have great wealth. We are not as ignorant as the Jahilliah who embraced Islam. We are familiar with the workings of the world’s economy and finances. We control 50 out of the 180 countries in the world. Our votes can make or break international organisations. Yet we seem more helpless than the small number of Jahilliah converts who accepted the Prophet as their leader. Why? Is it because of Allah’s will or is it because we have interpreted our religion wrongly, or failed to abide by the correct teachings of our religion, or done the wrong things? We are enjoined by our religion to prepare for the defence of the ummah. Unfortunately we stress not defence but the weapons of the time of the Prophet. Those weapons and horses cannot help to defend us any more. We need guns and rockets, bombs and warplanes, tanks and warships for our defence. But because we discouraged the learning of science and mathematics etc as giving no merit for the akhirat, today we have no capacity to produce our own weapons for our defence. We have to buy our weapons from our detractors and enemies. This is what comes from the superficial interpretation of the Quran, stressing not the substance of the Prophet’s sunnah and the Quran’s injunctions but rather the form, the manner and the means used in the 1st Century of the Hijrah. And it is the same with the other teachings of Islam. We are more concerned with the forms rather than the substance of the words of Allah and adhering only to the literal interpretation of the traditions of the Prophet. We may want to recreate the first century of the Hijrah, the way of life in those times, in order to practise what we think to be the true Islamic way of life. But we will not be allowed to do so. Our detractors and enemies will take advantage of the resulting backwardness and weakness in order to dominate us. Islam is not just for the 7th Century A.D. Islam is for all times. And times have changed. Whether we like it or not we have to change, not by changing our religion but by applying its teachings in the context of a world that is radically different from that of the first century of the Hijrah. Islam is not wrong but the interpretations by our scholars, who are not prophets even though they may be very learned, can be wrong. We have a need to go back to the fundamental teachings of Islam to find out whether we are indeed believing in and practising the Islam that the Prophet preached. It cannot be that we are all practising the correct and true Islam when our beliefs are so different from one another. Today we, the whole Muslim ummah are treated with contempt and dishonour. Our religion is denigrated. Our holy places desecrated. Our countries are occupied. Our people starved and killed. None of our countries are truly independent. We are under pressure to conform to our oppressors’ wishes about how we should behave, how we should govern our lands, how we should think even. Today if they want to raid our country, kill our people, destroy our villages and towns, there is nothing substantial that we can do. Is it Islam which has caused all these? Or is it that we have failed to do our duty according to our religion? Our only reaction is to become more and more angry. Angry people cannot think properly. And so we find some of our people reacting irrationally. They launch their own attacks, killing just about anybody including fellow Muslims to vent their anger and frustration. Their governments can do nothing to stop them. The enemy retaliates and puts more pressure on the governments. And the governments have no choice but to give in, to accept the directions of the enemy, literally to give up their independence of action. With this their people and the ummah become angrier and turn against their own governments. Every attempt at a peaceful solution is sabotaged by more indiscriminate attacks calculated to anger the enemy and prevent any peaceful settlement. But the attacks solve nothing. The Muslims simply get more oppressed. There is a feeling of hopelessness among the Muslim countries and their people. They feel that they can do nothing right. They believe that things can only get worse. The Muslims will forever be oppressed and dominated by the Europeans and the Jews. They will forever be poor, backward and weak. Some believe, as I have said, this is the Will of Allah, that the proper state of the Muslims is to be poor and oppressed in this world. But is it true that we should do and can do nothing for ourselves? Is it true that 1.3 billion people can exert no power to save themselves from the humiliation and oppression inflicted upon them by a much smaller enemy? Can they only lash back blindly in anger? Is there no other way than to ask our young people to blow themselves up and kill people and invite the massacre of more of our own people? It cannot be that there is no other way. 1.3 billion Muslims cannot be defeated by a few million Jews. There must be a way. And we can only find a way if we stop to think, to assess our weaknesses and our strength, to plan, to strategise and then to counter-attack. As Muslims we must seek guidance from the Al-Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet. Surely the 23 years’ struggle of the Prophet can provide us with some guidance as to what we can and should do. We know he and his early followers were oppressed by the Qhuraish. Did he launch retaliatory strikes? No. He was prepared to make strategic retreats. He sent his early followers to a Christian country and he himself later migrated to Madinah. There he gathered followers, built up his defence capability and ensured the security of his people. At Hudaibiyah he was prepared to accept an unfair treaty, against the wishes of his companions and followers. During the peace that followed he consolidated his strength and eventually he was able to enter Mecca and claim it for Islam. Even then he did not seek revenge. And the peoples of Mecca accepted Islam and many became his most powerful supporters, defending the Muslims against all their enemies. That briefly is the story of the struggle of the Prophet. We talk so much about following the sunnah of the Prophet. We quote the instances and the traditions profusely. But we actually ignore all of them. If we use the faculty to think that Allah has given us then we should know that we are acting irrationally. We fight without any objective, without any goal other than to hurt the enemy because they hurt us. Naively we expect them to surrender. We sacrifice lives unnecessarily, achieving nothing other than to attract more massive retaliation and humiliation. It is surely time that we pause to think. But will this be wasting time? For well over half a century we have fought over Palestine. What have we achieved? Nothing. We are worse off than before. If we had paused to think then we could have devised a plan, a strategy that can win us final victory. Pausing and thinking calmly is not a waste of time. We have a need to make a strategic retreat and to calmly assess our situation. We are actually very strong. 1.3 billion people cannot be simply wiped out. The Europeans killed six million Jews out of 12 million. But today the Jews rule this world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them. We may not be able to do that. We may not be able to unite all the 1.3 billion Muslims. We may not be able to get all the Muslim Governments to act in concert. But even if we can get a third of the ummah and a third of the Muslim states to act together, we can already do something. Remember that the Prophet did not have many followers when he went to Madinah. But he united the Ansars and the Muhajirins and eventually he became strong enough to defend Islam. Apart from the partial unity that we need, we must take stock of our assets. I have already mentioned our numbers and our oil wealth. In today’s world we wield a lot of political, economic and financial clout, enough to make up for our weakness in military terms. We also know that not all non-Muslims are against us. Some are well disposed towards us. Some even see our enemies as their enemies. Even among the Jews there are many who do not approve of what the Israelis are doing. We must not antagonise everyone. We must win their hearts and minds. We must win them to our side not by begging for help from them but by the honourable way that we struggle to help ourselves. We must not strengthen the enemy by pushing everyone into their camps through irresponsible and unIslamic acts. Remember Salah El Din and the way he fought against the so-called Crusaders, King Richard of England in particular. Remember the considerateness of the Prophet to the enemies of Islam. We must do the same. It is winning the struggle that is important, not angry retaliation, not revenge. We must build up our strength in every field, not just in armed might. Our countries must be stable and well administered, must be economically and financially strong, industrially competent and technologically advanced. This will take time, but it can be done and it will be time well spent. We are enjoined by our religion to be patient. Innallahamaasabirin. Obviously there is virtue in being patient. But the defence of the ummah, the counter-attack, need not start only after we have put our houses in order. Even today we have sufficient assets to deploy against our detractors. It remains for us to identify them and to work out how to make use of them to stop the carnage caused by the enemy. This is entirely possible if we stop to think, to plan, to strategise and to take the first few critical steps. Even these few steps can yield positive results. We know that the Jahilliah Arabs were given to feuding, to killing each other simply because they were from different tribes. The Prophet preached the brotherhood of Islam to them and they were able to overcome their hatred for each other, become united and helped towards the establishment of the great Muslim civilisation. Can we say that what the Jahilliah (the ignorant) could do we, the modern Muslims cannot do? If not all at least some of us can do. If not the renaissance of our great civilisation, at least ensuring the security of the ummah. To do the things that are suggested will not even require all of us to give up our differences with each other. We need only to call a truce so we can act together in tackling only certain problems of common interests, the Palestine problem for example. In any struggle, in any war, nothing is more important than concerted and coordinated action. A degree of discipline is all that is needed. The Prophet lost in Jabal Uhud because his forces broke rank. We know that, yet we are unwilling to discipline ourselves and to give up our irregular and uncoordinated actions. We need to be brave but not foolhardy. We need to think not just of our reward in the afterlife but also of the worldly results of our mission. The Quran tells us that when the enemy sues for peace we must react positively. True the treaty offered is not favourable to us. But we can negotiate. The Prophet did, at Hudaibiyah. And in the end he triumphed. I am aware that all these ideas will not be popular. Those who are angry would want to reject it out of hand. They would even want to silence anyone who makes or supports this line of action. They would want to send more young men and women to make the supreme sacrifice. But where will all these lead to? Certainly not victory. Over the past 50 years of fighting in Palestine we have not achieved any result. We have in fact worsened our situation. The enemy will probably welcome these proposals and we will conclude that the promoters are working for the enemy. But think. We are up against a people who think. They survived 2000 years of pogroms not by hitting back, but by thinking. They invented and successfully promoted Socialism, Communism, human rights and democracy so that persecuting them would appear to be wrong, so they may enjoy equal rights with others. With these they have now gained control of the most powerful countries and they, this tiny community, have become a world power. We cannot fight them through brawn alone. We must use our brains also. Of late because of their power and their apparent success they have become arrogant. And arrogant people, like angry people will make mistakes, will forget to think. They are already beginning to make mistakes. And they will make more mistakes. There may be windows of opportunity for us now and in the future. We must seize these opportunities. But to do so we must get our acts right. Rhetoric is good. It helps us to expose the wrongs perpetrated against us, perhaps win us some sympathy and support. It may strengthen our spirit, our will and resolve, to face the enemy. We can and we should pray to Allah S.W.T. for in the end it is He who will determine whether we succeed or fail. We need His blessings and His help in our endeavours, But it is how we act and what we do which will determine whether He would help us and give us victory or not. He has already said so in the Quran. Again Surah Ar-Ra’d verse 11. As I said at the beginning, the whole world is looking at us; the whole Muslim ummah is placing their hopes in this conference of the leaders of Islamic nations. They expect us not just to vent our frustrations and anger, through words and gestures, not just to pray for Allah’s blessings. They expect us to do something, to act. We cannot say we cannot do anything, we the leaders of the Muslim nations. We cannot say we cannot unite even when faced with the destruction of our religion and the ummah. We know we can. There are many things that we can do. There are many resources that we have at our disposal. What is needed is merely the will to do it, As Muslims, we must be grateful for the guidance of our religion, we must do what needs to be done, willingly and with determination. Allah has not raised us, the leaders, above the others so we may enjoy power for ourselves only. The power we wield is for our people, for the ummah, for Islam. We must have the will to make use of this power judiciously, prudently, concertedly. Insyaallah we will triumph in the end. I pray to Allah that this 10th Conference of the OIC in Putrajaya, Malaysia, will give a new and positive direction to us, will be blessed with success by Him, Almighty Allah, Arahman, Arahirn.

Dr Mahathir addresses the 10th Summit of the OIC in Putrajaya. - StarpixSpeech by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad at the opening of the 10th Session of the Islamic Summit Conference on Oct 16, 2003

Africa, Corruption and General de Gaulle

“To make trees grow you need manure”

(Former Italian Prime Minister)

In 1940 France was not defeated by Germany. It’s now a consensus: she was humiliated.

One man refused to accept the defeat and decided instead to found the Free French Movement and to continue the war to free his country from the German colonization.

Four years later, this unparallel act of courage, decisiveness, proud, fidelity, dedication, amour to one’s country, will lead to victory and the man that was almost completely alone in refusing to surrender in June 1940, will be received as an hero in his country and he will save the honour lost.

This astonishing victory against the forces of oppression, submission, racism, militarism…is much more remarkable if one knows that the contribution of Free French Movement was symbolic. Germany was defeated by Russians and Americans.

That means that the historic victory of general de Gaulle was essentially obtained in his refusal to give his consent to an illegitimate power and to persuade the others to do the same.

And others did the same. They would join La Résistance knowing that they have, even in the complete defeat, “the power to refuse our consent”. That refusal will eventually lead to the expulsion of the barbarians from France and the re conquest of national Independence and Dignity.

We believe that general de Gaulle (a man that by profession and education learnt to obey orders from his superior by heart) did commit an act -Appeal of 18 June- of historical grandeur without parallel in French history because he learnt to love his country.

My mother, he wrote in his memories, felt an uncompromising passion for the fatherland.

“An uncompromising passion for the fatherland” is something that most part of Africans leaders do not have, hence the corruption in Africa.

We believe that because most part of African leaders do not love Africa, this explains greatly why once in the power they grab as much as they can, transfer them to western banks, buy properties in western countries, send their kids to study in those countries and eventually retiring there and returning to Africa only after they are dead.

The problem is not so much about corruption (very serious indeed) but the absolute lack of love and passion for one’s country and continent.

Italy is a very corrupt country. But where do Italian politicians invest their money? Where do they send their kids to study? Where do Italian politicians go when they are sick?

Charles de Gaulle knew that without his country he was nothing and that the Dignity of French people was not negotiable, being himself French that means that his Dignity as a Human being was not negotiable. And he did act all his life accordingly.

De Gaulle is not my hero and he should not be for any African man.
Sékou Touré is my hero and he should be for all Africans. He did for Guinea-Conakry and Africa what de Gaulle did for France and Europe.
Sékou Touré fought and died for the Dignity of African Man; for the Dignity of Man, whereas de Gaulle fought and died only for the Dignity of the French Man or maybe also the white man, which shows that even in the land of the Enlightenment project not everyone understands what Enlightenment stands for.

Abel Djassy

Note: Of course I do not condone corruption and I will go further: in most African countries is not even correct to talk about corruption; it is worst than that: it is robbery.(ex:Angola,Nigeria etc…).
Corruption implies some degree of concealment, the authors are afraid of being caught, afraid of …shame attached to the act. Not most of the African leaders.

Dr Mahitir Mohamed:An Example for African Leaders

Dr. Mahathir's famous speech
SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER OF MALAYSIA,THE HONOURABLE DATO SERI DR MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMADAT THE ANNUAL SEMINAR OF THE WORLD BANK IN HONG KONGON SATURDAY, 20 SEPTEMBER 1997 AT 5.30 PM
Transcript from the Prime Minister's Office, Kuala LumpurSupplied by Malaysian Embassy, Canberra
Dr Mahathir was sitting next to Sir James Wolfensohn who could but shake his head as Mahathir proceeded to tear strips of the global financial establishment.
ASIAN ECONOMIES: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIESWhen I was invited to speak at this World Bank and IMF gathering more than three months ago things were going very smoothly indeed for Asia, in particular East Asia, the part which the naive thought it was logical and easy to bring together in an economic caucus, the East Asia Economic Caucus.
2. East Asian countries were at peace, within and without. Even the fracas in Cambodia had not happened. The certainty was that the nations of South East Asia and North East Asia would be growing economically and would gradually become economic powerhouses for the rest of the world.
3. There was much talk then of Asian dragons and tigers and of course the East Asian miracles. We were quite flattered. We thought they were admiring our strength and our skills.
4. We had forgotten the experience of Japan and Korea. When these two countries seemed about to catch up with the developed world, things began to happen to them. The Yen was yanked up in order to reduce the competitiveness of Japanese goods, while Korea was designated an NIC, a Newly-industrialising Country which must be stopped in its track.
5. We had even forgotten the lesson of Mexico, whose economy was suddenly blighted when foreign funds were suddenly, withdrawn. Mexico was forced to borrow 20 billion U.S. dollars in order to tide over and restore its fractured economy. Someone made a packet from this loan.
6. And of course we in Malaysia had laughed at the suggestion that our country would follow the fate of Mexico. How could that happen when our economy was so sound. We had practically no foreign debts. Our growth was high, our inflation low.
Politically we were stable and socially harmonious. We had put in place, tried and tested strategies for a continuous thirty-year growth plan.
7. We dismissed the rumour that Malaysia would go the way of Mexico. And indeed it did not. We did not realise how close we were to a manipulated economic crisis. We blithely sailed on.
And we were convinced that Mexico, Korea or Japan and their fates were irrelevant as far as we were concerned. We felt totally insulated against events in other countries.
8. But now we know better. We know why it was suggested that Malaysia would go the way of Mexico. We know now that even as Mexico's economic crash was manipulated and made to crash, the economies of other developing countries too can be suddenly manipulated and forced to bow to the great fund managers who have now come to be the people to decide who should prosper and who shouldn't.
9. I did not know all these when I accepted the invitation to speak, to speak of our hopes and aspiration, of sharing our prosperity with others. I had wanted to speak about prosper-thy-neighbour policies, about win win win strategies, about the multitude of opportunities in Asia for everyone.
10. In case you are wondering about what is meant by prosper-thy-neighbour, I would like to explain again that it simply means if you help your neighbour to prosper you will prosper along with it. When countries are prosperous they become more stable and their people need not emigrate to your country. Instead their prosperity provides you with a market for your goods, with opportunities to invest and to enrich yourself even as you create jobs and wealth for them.
11. Poor neighbours are a source of problems for everyone, for themselves and for you. Their problems tend to spill over your borders and undermine your peace and prosperity.
12. When Japan invested in Malaysia it created jobs and wealth for us and enabled us to industrialise rapidly. Japan of course gained directly from its investments but more than that we have become one of Japan's best markets.
13. Clearly Japan has prospered by helping us to prosper. This is what is meant by ``prosper-thy-neighbour'' as opposed to ``beggar-thy-neighbour.'' Everyone gains from ``prosper-thy-neighbour'' policies while only one side gains from ``beggar-thy-neighbour'' mindsets.
14. Malaysia is a developing country but we expend a lot of money in helping others. I will not elaborate on what we have done, but we really do, in the spirit of prospering-thy-neighbour.
15. The old mindset can be summarised by the term zero sum game. You win if others lose, you prosper at the expense of other's impoverishment.
16. Malaysia had prospered because we believed in being open when others seemed paranoid about foreigners and were ultra-nationalists, wanting to keep their country's economy to themselves. But in South East Asia ultra- nationalism very quickly gave way to pragmatic open economies.
17. Asean, and for that matter the whole of East Asia, seems to subscribe to the prosper-thy-neighbour philosophy. Now South Asia seems to be picking it up, together with countries in Africa. Imagine how wonderful the world would be if we all help each other to prosper, something that really is entirely possible.
18. But it would seem that the old beggar-thy-neighbour instinct is still around, is still the guiding principle of a group of ultra-rich people. For them wealth must come from impoverishing others, from taking what others have in order to enrich themselves. Their weapon is their wealth against the poverty of others.
19. For almost half a century the countries of East Asia have toiled day and night, to better the lot of their people. When Malaysia became independent in 1957, the per capita income of it's five million people was 350 U.S. dollars. By June 1997, after 40 long hard years of toil and sweat the per capita of it's 20 million people was almost 5,000 U.S. dollars. After June you know what happened.
20. All along we had tried to comply with the wishes of the rich and the mighty. We have opened up our markets, including our share and capital markets. On the other hand, most foreign companies operating in our country, do not allow local participation. They are not open, but we have not complained.
Their profits accrue to their shareholders in their home country. They pay practically no tax.
21. We were told that we must allow our money to be traded outside our country. We were told to permit short selling, even to let trading in borrowed shares to be legalised. We must allow for speculation. We did all that we were told to do. But we were told we have not done enough. We were told to slow down our growth. We were told that it could not be sustained, than it would be bad for us, that we would overheat. In particular we should not venture into big projects, the so-called mega projects, even if only to provide the necessary infrastructure that we were told we needed. And of course we were told that if we don't provide the infrastructure then we will not be able to grow. Quite confusing, really.
22. But Malaysia and its South East Asian neighbours continued to grow, to prosper. Disobedient, recalcitrant and at times impudent, these upstarts, Malaysia in particular had the temerity to aim higher than the developed countries, the powerful, the movers and shakers of the world.
23. I don't know about the average men in the street but quite a few people who are in the media and in control of the big money seem to want to see these South East Asian countries and in particular Malaysia stop trying to catch up with their superiors and to know their place. If they don't then they will just have to be made to do so and these people have the means and the wherewithal to force their will on these upstarts.
24. There may be no conspiracy as such but it is quite obvious that a few at least, media as well as fund managers, have their own agenda which they are determined to carry out.
25. We have always welcomed foreign investments, including speculation. They can come in to buy shares and to get out if they wish to for whatever reason. But when the big funds use their massive weight in order to move the shares up and down at will and make huge profits by their manipulations then it is too much to expect us to welcome them, especially when their profits results in massive losses for ourselves in the classic zero sum game theory.
26. International trading makes currency exchange necessary. Otherwise we may have to resort to barter. Buying and selling currency to finance trade is fine. But out of this evolved pure trade in currency as a commodity.
27. We are told that the trade in currency is actually 20 times bigger than real trade in goods and services. Other than profits and losses to the traders involved, there really is no tangible benefits for the world from this huge trade. No substantial jobs are created nor products or services enjoyed by the average people. The whole trading is secretive and a bit shady as huge sums are apparently moved about from banks to banks. No real money are involved, only figures. One billion Malaysian ringgits would need a big truck to move from place to place. Obviously this is physically impossible if the Great Train Robbery is not to be repeated hundreds of times over.
28. The traders apparently make billions with each transaction. But when the funds at their disposal is huge and they are in a position to influence the values of the currencies with their investments and divestments then the currency market become cash cows to them. They cannot fail to make a profit whichever way the index goes.
29. Unfortunately their profits come from impoverishing others, including very poor countries and poor people. South East Asian countries have now become their target simply because, we have the money but not enough to defend ourselves.
30. In the case of Malaysia, the ringgit is devalued by 20 percent. What this means is that we, everyone of us including the Government, have lost 20 percent of the purchasing power of whatever money we have. The poor have become poorer and there are now more poor people in Malaysia. The rich have become poorer too but we will not waste any sympathy on them of course.
31. But the currency traders have become rich, very very rich through making other people poorer. These are billionaires who do not really need any more money. Even the people who invest in the funds they operate are rich; we are told that the average return is about 35 percent per annum.
32. And we are told that we are not worldly if we do not appreciate the workings of the international financial market. Great countries tell us that we must accept being impoverished because that is what international finance is all about. Obviously we are not sophisticated enough to accept losing money so that the manipulators become richer.
33. We are also warned that these are powerful people. If we make a noise or we act in any way to frustrate them they would be annoyed. And when they are annoyed they can destroy us altogether, they can reduce us to basket cases. We have to accept that they are around, that they will always be around and that there really is nothing we can do about it. They will determine whether we prosper or we don't.
34. Once upon a time the U.S. allowed monopolies. Then Rockefeller cornered the oil industry in America and destroyed the small players and squeezed the consumers. The U.S. government decided that this was not right and outlawed monopolies through the Anti-Trust Laws.
35. A few decades back some enterprising people hit on the idea acquiring controlling interest in companies and then stripping their assets. The shell left by them was incapable of giving any return to the small shareholders. Thousands of people lost money.
36. Again the government stepped in and required anyone acquiring more than a certain percentage of shares to make an offer for the rest. That way the small shareholders were able to dispose of their shares at the offered price. They were relieved of the possibility of owning shares in useless companies.
37. To prevent other abuses, anyone buying more than five percent of the shares have to declare.
38. When insiders made use of inside information to sell or buy their own shares it was regarded as unfair advantage and was made illegal.
39. I mention all these because society must be protected from unscrupulous profiteers. I know I am taking a big risk to suggest it, but I am saying that currency trading is unnecessary, unproductive and immoral. It should be stopped. It should be made illegal. We don't need currency trading. We need to buy money only when we want to finance real trade. Otherwise we should not buy or sell currencies as we sell commodities.
40. We cannot go back to Bretton Woods and the fixed exchange rates although we should be honest enough to admit that fixed exchange rates did not hold up the economic recovery of the world in the post World War period. It was wrong only because it did not really reflect the economic performance of the nations concerned. Sovereign nations were allowed to devalue at will.
But the float resulted in nations losing their sovereign rights. Currency traders emerged who made killings tracking the snake etc. But they were relatively small players. They were not the movers and shakers who ruled the market. They were mere speculators.
41. No one I think would want to return to the fixed exchange rates. But if anarchy is abhorred by good citizens everywhere, there is no reason why we should not abhor, anarchy in the world financial system. A certain degree of uncertainty is fine but an absolutely uncertain financial world is no good for anyone, except of course for those who deliberately create the uncertainty. But then these people know for certain what they are going to do and could take cover or take advantage. For them there is no uncertainty. They are dealing in absolute certainty and they cannot possibly lose. If insider trading is unfair, outsiders who know exactly what is going to happen and then trade, can it be said to be fair?
42. If trade is to grow then currency values must be linked to the economic performance of the countries concerned. There are enough indices which can help indicate the value of the currencies, and the rates of exchange. A country that is doing reasonably well at a certain exchange rates should be allowed to maintain the rate. If the country is doing badly, devaluation can help the country by making their costs lower and their products more competitive. On the other hand, if the country is too competitive it is safe to assume that the currency is undervalued. Since many factors are involved, many rates are possible. Traders can then take the risk and trade in the currency, if they must.
43. This way there will not be a fixed rate but the range of fluctuation will not be too wide. There will be enough uncertainty for genuine traders but there will not be violent swings as to cause financial crisis for the country concerned.
Trade would not be too disrupted and would in fact he enhanced, increasing the wealth for everyone. It would be a win win situation.
44. The countries of South East Asia have prospered because by and large they have managed their economy better than most other developing countries. Their prosperity has contributed to the prosperity of their trading partners. In fact they have contributed to the economy of many developing countries by their willingness to serve as models for other developing countries.
45. In Malaysia, we have always believed that we are better able to convince other developing countries, and in particular ex-communist countries wanting to liberalise, of the benefits of a market economy. When these countries look at Europe or North America they would feel that the free market economy is beyond their capacity to manage. Europe had taken over two centuries to achieve what they have achieved. These developing countries always feel put off by the complexity and the time required. The centrally-planned socialist system had always seemed easier. But as we all know, socialism and communism had failed. Their economic system did not work. The ex-socialist countries need to adopt at least a part of the evidently successful free market system.
46. When they see that a country like Malaysia, a former colony of Britain, 40 years ago very much like them, fairly successfully managing a market economy, they feel more confident that they can do the same. Some of the other countries of South East Asia are also attractive and convincing models for them. A number of these countries are willing to open their books and even to train personnel from developing countries in economic development and management.
47. We did not spend as much money as the rich aid-giving countries; we did not lend money, but we believe that we are more effective in helping many developing countries in South East Asia, Africa, Central Asia and the South Pacific to make the transition from the centrally-planned command economy to the free market economy.
48. Additionally, the South East Asian countries learnt about administrative measures and development strategies by observing each other. We adopt what seems right and discard what fails to work. It is no coincidence that we have prospered together. We are each other's models.
49. Given half a chance, the countries of South East Asia can become the systems and strategies engine of growth for a lot of countries in Asia and indeed in other parts of the developing world.
50. What would happen to the rest of the world if these developing countries become developed? If it is a zero sum beggar-thy-neighbour world, then we can assume that the presently developed world would become poorer, weaker and ready for colonisation by the New Emerging Developed World. If this is to be the end result then the developed countries should prevent others from ever developing. North East and South East Asia must be impoverished and rendered perpetually unstable. And of course, the Indian sub-continent which seems likely to be the next growth region must be undermined. Under no circumstances must the 1.2 billion people of South Asia together with the two billion increasingly wealthy people of the East Asian region be allowed to become developed.
51. To the yellow peril of yesteryear will be added the brown peril. The Europeans will be overwhelmed. Genghis Khan will ride again and so on and so forth.
52. But the zero sum game theory is an invention of the pessimists, the xenophobic, the clash of civilisation people. Whether it will come about or not depends very much on our present attitudes and what we do now. The attempt to deprive Japan of the raw materials for its industries resulted in Japan launching the Pacific war.
53. But supposing we all espoused the prosper-thy-neighbour policy, supposing we see in the prosperity of others opportunities for enriching ourselves, then we need not be so afraid of the growing wealth and technological advancements of the developing countries of the world.
54. I repeat, when Japan invested in manufacturing in Malaysia, we became not only prosperous but also one of Japan's biggest markets. Today the trade balance is hugely in favour of Japan. And of course Japan reaped huge profits from its investments in Malaysia.
55. Foreign Direct Investments have helped Malaysian per capita to increase by almost 1,000 percent over a period of 30 years. Better still, we have now acquired the capacity to manufacture and export our own branded goods.
56. Clearly this was no zero sum game. This was a win win formula. By helping us, Japan and the others had helped themselves. They have not lost one little bit. Even the rest of the world benefited because we helped to reduce cost and make goods available to poor people everywhere, particularly in the poor countries. And of course Malaysia is not a market for Japan alone. With our wealth and our ever growing needs, we have become a good market for all kinds of products from all the other developed countries. In other words, Malaysia's prosperity has helped to prosper the developed countries everywhere.
57. It is the same with all the South East Asian countries. We have helped to prosper very many countries, including the rich countries of the North. The trade figures will bear testimony to this.
58. There are many developing countries which are still very poor. They contribute almost nothing to the wealth of the rich. They need financial support continuously. They are unstable. They have incessant civil wars, famines and disasters of every kind. Tourists run the danger of being killed in these countries. Huge sums have to be expended on peace keeping in these countries.
59. Prosperous countries on the other hand, are more likely to be peaceful and less of a burden to the rest of the world. A prosper-thy-neighbour policy would therefore give a better return than a beggar-thy-neighbour policy.
60. There is therefore no need to fear the prosperity of the developing countries. They are not going to be a threat to the prosperous. There is no profit in trying to contain them, to undermine them, to prevent them from talking to each other or to their richer neighbours. They cannot be a threat because they will be too busy competing among themselves to gang up against the developed countries. Asians in particular are more ethnically different than Europeans. They can never work together. The clash of civilisation will not take place.
61. There will not be a totally peaceful world of course. There will be local wars. Arms can still be manufactured and sold profitably to these people. But by and large, a generally better developed and prosperous world would be better than one which is divided into the very rich and the very poor.
62. Despite our bitterness over the attempts to push us back by a decade through forced devaluation of our currency, through the rape of our share market, we in South East Asia and in Asia are still keen to receive investments from Europe and America. There has been a lot of talk about our scaring away foreign (meaning western) capital. But you should also appreciate that we of South East Asia at least, are now very scared about foreign capital. We thought they were helping to prosper us. We conducted roadshows to encourage them to invest in our share and financial markets. We will continue to do so. But we will have to be more circumspect. We still believe there are sincere investors out there. But there are also quite a few rogues who can cause an avalanche forcing others to run for cover.
63. We still believe in prospering Asia in order to prosper everyone. The media and the great financial experts may know how or what a country should do, but then if anything fails they are not going to be voted out of office. We are, and we do claim to know a few things about developing our countries. Malaysia has become one of the so-called tiger economies not by listening to the media or the great financial wizards. We have in fact developed ourselves by actually doing the opposite of what the wizards told us we should do. And we think, outrageously and impudently that the same formula can help develop other countries as well.
64. We were a commodity producer with only two commodities to sell. Without any skills in the manufacturing industry we decided to industrialise. And we did. We were told that affirmative action to correct the socio-economic imbalance is not fair and will not work. Our New Economic Policy worked and created a fairer society with no race riots. Similarly we were told that the majority Malays would oppress the minorities. Instead Malays, Chinese, Indians, Iban, Kadazan and 30 other tribes work harmoniously together.
65. We were told that a developing country should not aspire to go into the automobile industry. We did and we have succeeded.
66. Privatisation was a new fangled thing when in 1982 we launched our privatisation programme. Many developed countries failed in their privatisation. We have privatised more than 400 government departments, companies and functions. We have succeeded and we are still going on.
67. Japan Incorporated was condemned. We made Malaysia Incorporated our creed and it has helped our country to grow and prosper faster than most other countries.
68. I will not bore you with tales of our rejection of the conventional including raising our interest rates in order to protect our Ringgit. As you know we went the other way.
69. One of the unconventional things we did was to go big. Our 830 km North-South Highway, our six-kilometre wharf at the new West Port, our Penang Bridge, the Kuala Lumpur Telecommunication Tower, the Petronas Twin Towers and many, many more big projects we have completed have all contributed to our growth and our wealth. They are not monuments but basic infrastructure.
70. We are building the biggest airport in Asia for Kuala Lumpur because of sheer need. Our present airport built 13 years ago was for 400,000 passengers. It now handles 16 million and has no room for expansion.
71. All over the world governments find difficulty in locating new and necessary airports. It would be stupid to build a new airport to handle one million more. We will never find another site when the need arise for a bigger airport. If you must build a new airport, build it, big enough at least for the next 30 years if not 100 years. But we were told that we should not build a mega airport. Why? Because you think it would undermine our economy in which you have invested. You do not want our economy to go under and you will lose your money. But please give us some credit for knowing something about managing our country.
72. We like to think big. We even have great ideas for bringing wealth to other developing countries. We proposed the development of the Mekong Valley, beginning with the railway from Singapore to Kunming because we know that transportation will stimulate economic development. It is a big project but small projects make little impact on the economy.
73. We want to link up with the railways of China, Central Asia and on to Europe. Central Asia's landlocked and cannot develop because of it. You build VLCC to transport oil and bulk cargo for yourselves. Why cannot an ultra-wide gauge railways with trains of two kilometres be built, to move goods in and out of the Central Asian Republics? They can then prosper and the world will have another big market.
74. We have other big ideas to prosper our neighbours, to prosper everyone, the developed countries included.
75. But we are not going to be allowed to do this because you don't like us to have big ideas. It is not proper. It is impudent for us to try, or to even say we are going to do it.
If we even say that when we have the money we will carry on with our big projects, you will make sure we won't have the money by forcing the devaluation of our currency.
76. Beggar-your-neighbour, this is the mindset of some people. They will not help. Worse still they will block, obstruct and undermine.
77. Asia is full of great opportunities not just for Asians but for everyone. Given half a chance we can prosper. We cannot all be as big economically as Japan, but we will not be excruciatingly poor. If the countries of Europe, and of North America can be almost uniformly prosperous we don't see why we cannot be allowed to be a little prosperous.
78. We will not act in concert against the rest of the world. We are not ethnically related as are the Europeans. We come in various colours and shades, practising different religions, speaking different tongues and with very different cultures. We will always disagree with each other, possibly fight against one another leaving us little time to confront others from Europe.
You have nothing to fear from the prosperity and well-being of the Asians.
You have everything to gain, for our prosperity will contribute to your prosperity and the prosperity of the rest of the world. So think of Asian opportunities and seize them.

Published by David Kidd, Maryborough, Queensland 4650, Australia