NO REAL GLOBALISATION CAN TAKE PLACE IF DISCRIMINATION STILL IMPOSED

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 19 (Bernama) -- No real globalisation can take place if
certain countries are still discriminated against, said former prime minister Dr
Mahathir Mohamad.

He said if the present interpretation of a borderless world and global village
is about free movement of capital, technology and the ability to exploit
resources, poor countries also should be allowed to invest in rich countries.

"Now it is a one-sided thing because the interpretation is only by one party. We
receive ideas, they interpret it and we have to implement. Same applies to the
politics of the world. Somebody conceived ideas, promotes it and we have to
accept and not question," he said here Monday.

He said this in his keynote address at an international forum entitled "The
Creation of Global Citizens: Media Liberalisation and New Political Realities"
held on the eve of this year's Umno general assembly.

"We need to tell ourselves whenever there are new ideas and concepts, let’s sit
down and discuss the whole interpretation of the idea so that it benefits every
country.

"We should have equal rights to discuss new ideas. Everybody should be allowed
to have their own interpretation of any new ideas," he said.

Talking about democracy, Dr Mahathir also said a lot of hypocrisy was what
constituted of the new political realities.

"Nowadays, people are willing to kill people for democracy, hence the occupation
of Iraq. In order to make it democratic you have to kill the people first. Such
is the thinking that the greatness of democracy is that you have to kill people
in order to force it upon them.

"But democracy is not a religion. It’s not coming from God. It comes from some
philosophers who always think how to do things better. But it is usually better
for them but not everyone," Dr Mahathir said.

"Bullying a small country is the right way to do things? Why (invade) Iraq? I
think China is not democratic but why don’t go to war with China? That is the
reflection of the idea and reality of the situation. Most democratic people
think that might is right," he said.

He stressed that today the world was not democratic and that some countries
practiced democracy within their country but not with other countries.

Dr Mahathir said this was today's reality in the political world where there was
a contest between Washington consensus and Beijing consensus.

"Here is a country that was very poor but by applying the Beijing Consensus
correctly it has become the second richest country in the world with US$2.3
trillion reserves. This proves that a non-democratic country can also give a
good life to the people.

"There is no democracy in China, not the kind of democracy that we believe in,
but look at the progress brought by the system. Although they are an
authoritarian government, they changed their leaders peacefully. In the long
run, Beijing might win," Dr Mahathir said.

Dr Mahathir said some democracies did not work because people cannot make up
their minds.

"We see a lot of democratic countries, where the leaders change every two years,
cannot make any progress at all. In some countries, democracy actually hindered
their progress and made them unstable,” he said, adding that democracy also
failed in some countries because they could not deliver what they had promised
to deliver.

"The system of election for example, if you are to insist on a 100 per cent
majority before you form a government then you will never have a government," Dr
Mahathir said.

"That is why," he said, "we have to be satisfied with a majority government.
Although a majority government obviously cannot satisfy the minority but we make
provisions for the minority."

"Don’t think by changing the government, everything will be changed. Of course
during elections you make huge promises especially when you don’t expect to win.
The Opposition will do the same thing if they are in the government," he added.
-- BERNAMA