JP/7/MAHATHIR

JP/7/MAHATHIR

The subject for today is "Trust and Governance for a New Era".

Mahathir Mohamad
Prime Minister
Malaysia

In the world today there is no trust or little trust and
governance, world governance that is, is not good. We have in
fact made a mess of the world. Two millennium of experience and
mountains of knowledge have not made us much more capable at
managing our affairs than stone age people.

We now live in fear, every one of us. We fear the terrorists
and the terrorists, their supporters or alleged supporters fear
us. We fear flying, we fear traveling to certain countries, we
fear night-clubs, we fear letters, parcels and cargo containers,
we fear white powder, shoes, Muslims, pen knives, metal cutlery,
etc. They, the other side, fear sanctions, starvation, shortage
of medicine. They fear military invasion, being bombed and
rocketed, being captured and detained.

People who are neutral, not involved, innocent -- they too
live in fear. They are the collaterals. Just as the Afghans and
the Iraqi civilians are collaterals the passengers on the
hijacked planes and those people working in the World Trade
Towers are also collaterals.

Actually we are in the midst of the World War III, not the war
against terrorists but the war between terrorists and the peace
loving anti-terrorists alliance, the war between the Axis of Evil
and Satan. Both sides are convinced that they are right, that
theirs is the fight against evil. Evil and Satan must be
destroyed.

Frightened, the world is taking measures to secure and defend
at tremendous cost. But the main result is not security or
freedom from terror attacks. The main result is to disrupt life,
undermine investments and business, and generally to adversely
affect economic growth world wide.

It is going to be a long war because hatred, anger, bitterness
rules our hearts. We both want revenge. We both will retaliate.
You kill our people, we will kill your people. And so it will go
on and on. Sanity has deserted both sides.

The world has become small. It is said to be a village. But we
have not made much progress in the management of our world
despite its diminished size. Just as in the stone age the man
with the biggest club rules, in our modern and sophisticated
global village the country with the biggest killing power rules.

When the Cold War ended we thought that the world would see
peace and prosperity. After all the people who believe in peace
and universal justice won. The evil Empire has been overthrown.

But the loss of a counter balance has resulted in the great
exponent of justice and fair play to become unbalanced. While the
Communists were there the Capitalists curbed their greed and
avarice. They showed a friendly face.

But now there is no more other side. The friendly face of
capitalism is not needed any more. Now capitalists can do what
they like and what they like is simply to make more money for
themselves.

Why is there a need for borders? Why should countries protect
their puny inefficient economies? The world has become too small
to be divided into countries with different system of Governments
and laws. There should be just one global entity and one system,
the great democratic system and the freedom that is supposed to
go with it. If the new democracies do not know how to manage the
system, that is too bad. Democracy is such a good system that
everyone must adopt it. It is blasphemy to say anything against
democracy. If you do, if you resist then you will be considered a
heretic and starved to death, or bombed out of existence.

In a free world there must be competition. The strongest and
the most efficient will win. If you are small and weak and
inefficient it is best that you go. In athletics it may be
reasonable to have different classes of competitors. But in the
competition between countries and corporations there should be no
categorization or classification, nor should handicaps be given.
The biggest and the most efficient should be allowed to dominate
and take all. It is good for everyone.

And so we see the great banks and corporations merging and
acquiring each other to ensure that the tiny banks and businesses
in the poor countries will not stand a chance, will be swept
aside.

Big is beautiful again. Big is good. Unfortunately there is no
guarantee that the big will not cheat, will not fall, will not go
bankrupt. But we must not take notice of Enron, Global Crossing,
Arthur Anderson, United Airlines etc. They are the exceptions
which merely prove the rule.

Today the disparity between the rich countries and the poor
countries is greater than ever. The richest countries have a per
capita of more than of US$30,000, the poorest $300. Of the
world's 6 billion people one billion are underfed, underclothed
and without a roof over their heads. Many scrounge in rubbish
heaps for food, clothing and materials for their shelter.

In politics, the post Cold War world is no better. The
misfortunes of the weak are their problem. The strong will
dominate.

Socially we have not advanced either. We talk a lot about the
sanctity of human lives and human rights. We are opposed to death
penalties. But actually whole populations have been sentenced to
death and in many instances the sentence has been carried out.
When war is declared against a country a death sentence is passed
on the people and when war is executed the sentence is carried
out. And still we talk glibly about the sanctity of life.

The exploitation of the world by the greedy, the double
standards and the hypocrisy about human rights and respect for
human lives, the oppressions of the weak by the strong, the
disregard for human sufferings; the expropriation of other
peoples' land and the expulsion of the people, all these have
been aggravated by the ending of the Cold War and the victory of
the righteous over the evil.

The worm finally turned. The weak have now hit back in the
only way they can. Groping for the enemy, the strong hits out
blindly in every direction, in every part of the world. No one is
free. Fear rules the world.

With the onset of this World War III, the world is in a state
of turmoil. We now live in fear, even the rich are not as
prosperous any more, while the poor are actually poorer.

We have not made such a good job managing this Global Village
of ours. There is no trust and no good governance.

So how do we create trust and good governance in the new era?
I don't think it can be done by seeking for a military defeat of
the enemy and forcing them to submit. The forces against the Axis
of Evil are not going to win because the target is wrong. All
that can happen if they are defeated is to create more anger and
a call for more revenge and retaliation by the people who are
incensed by the injustice they believe they are experiencing.

On the other hand the other side are not going to win either.
The enemy is just too big and too powerful.

The only solution is through compromise. Trust must be built.
The initiation must come from the good people. They must
recognize that people do not tie bombs to their bodies or crash
their planes for the fun of it. They must have a reason for it.
We have to remove the reasons. Out terrorizing the terrorists
will not work. But removing the causes for terrorism will.

Good governance is simple if we curb the greedy and forget
about self-regulating markets. Governments are not yet
anachronistic. They have a role to play.

We need a paradigm shift, we need a new mind-set if we are
going to put an end to this World War III. We need victory for
both, a victory where both sides will benefit.

The world is big enough and rich enough for everyone. There is
no need to take everything for ourselves. A win-win solution is
possible.

If we can overcome our anger and hatred, our craving for
revenge, our unlimited greed, we can manage the world and achieve
trust and eventually good governance.