YouSaid · the spoken record

Mahathir Mohamad

lines on the record: 84
first: 1993-09-24
most recent: 1999-09-24
sittings or episodes: 3
sources: un-general-debate

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“And so, the Security Council remains a blunt instrument of the foreign policies of the permanent members. In the context of a globalized world, much is made of the terms “interdependence” and “mutual interests”. Multilateralism has been elbowed aside. Yet multilateralism is the foundation of the international relations and cooperation which the United Nations symbolizes. From now on, globalization will take over and nations will lose their sovereignty. Consider the current financial crisis that faces this Organization. The United Nations is on the verge of bankruptcy, being held to ransom by its major donor country, the wealthiest nation in the world. That country refuses to meet its assessed and legally due contributions, yet insists on maintaining its hegemony on global management.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“While these major Powers advocate peace and condemn arms races by others, their industries aggressively develop and promote the sales of defence technologies and weapons of death. Like a drug dealer supplying his helplessly addicted victims, the northern-based arms industries keep poor countries mired in a cycle of poverty and insecurity, laying waste vital human skills and resources. Perhaps such political elitism comes naturally to these powerful countries, many of which were imperial Powers before. A clue as to their priorities for the global agenda is to be found in the recent communiqué of the economic summit of the Group of Seven. Reform of the United Nations, in particular the Security Council, as an urgent issue, gave way to the pre-eminence of the globalization of the world economy.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Malaysia deeply regrets the lack of a consensus on the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty but welcomes its subsequent adoption at the fiftieth session of the General Assembly. We worry about nuclear aspirations in our region and in Israel. To a large extent, the refusal of the nuclear-weapon States to adopt a timetable for nuclear disarmament is responsible for this situation and seriously flaws the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. Malaysia is encouraged by the recent International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion on the legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons. To render the Court’s finding meaningful, there should be serious efforts made towards accelerating the process of nuclear disarmament, including the early convening of a special session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Clearly disregarding multilateralism, with its inherent qualities of mutual respect and shared interests, the North continues its vice-like grip on all spheres of international activity, including politics, international trade, development, the environment and the media to name a few. Elitism exercised by the major countries is frequently cloaked in the guise of globalism or of serving the common interests of nations. However even a cursory examination of this brand of globalism reveals it to be sanctimonious, if not hypocritical. For example, under the pretext of safeguarding international peace and security, the nuclear- weapon States maintain their right to destroy, or threaten to destroy, all life on this planet. Yet these countries deny others even the right to use conventional weapons for self- defence.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Commitment to multilateralism is so qualified and investment in the United Nations so tentative that common needs have often been sacrificed. Now, as the General Assembly begins its fifty-first session, we urge again that the international community work collectively for substantial change, reflecting a more equitable sharing of political and economic power. This call for reform is made even more urgent when we consider that the premises by which international relations are conducted today continue to perpetuate a grossly unjust system. The systematic abuse of power by the major countries has continued. They apply selective sanctions and double standards on the developing world to promote their narrow national interests.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“And there are countries such as Afghanistan, victims of the cold war, abandoned by the major Powers, needing help to reconstruct and overcome the destruction wrought by war. And what will be the fate of tiny Chechnya and its valiant people, facing the full onslaught of mighty Russia? While some developing countries become fragmented and marginalized, the process of accruing power and benefits continues with the major countries, aided by their control of the Security Council, their monopoly on nuclear power and their economic high ground. One sees various twists and turns, double standards and selectivity, as the dictates of domestic 6 politics overrule justice and humanitarianism in international affairs.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Hopefully, the tragedy of Bosnia and Herzegovina will, with international help, be on the mend, but Palestine’s hopes and aspirations have been undermined by the new Israeli Government, which is backed, unfortunately, by some Western Powers, and is backtracking on painfully negotiated agreements. At this moment, a rash decision by Israel not only imperils further the peace process, with lives being lost, but can inflame and outrage Muslim States and Muslim society if the sanctity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque is defiled. In Africa, Somalia, Rwanda and Liberia remain on the razor’s edge of survival, and Burundi awaits United Nations and regional initiatives to avoid a catastrophe.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Malaysia will continue to participate in international activities, United Nations- sponsored or otherwise, combining altruism with enlightened self-interest. This time last year, there was much celebration as the United Nations attained its fiftieth year. Amid the celebrations extolling the achievements of the United Nations, there were serious concerns expressed about the relevance and effectiveness of this Organization and the need for democratic reforms so that the United Nations could better fulfil the purposes and principles of the Charter. The fiftieth anniversary came and went and, despite the extravaganza, very little has been achieved. The Organization itself remains far removed from the aspirations of the peoples of the United Nations, which it is supposed to promote and protect.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“I am happy to acknowledge a Malaysian as the President of the General Assembly, a first for Malaysia. We are thankful to all Member States for their support, especially the members of the Asian Group, which endorsed Malaysia’s candidature early. I would like to think that the selection has to do with Malaysia’s efforts and involvement, with the United Nations and globally. Within three years of Malaysia’s independence, we were involved in United Nations peacekeeping operations in the Congo. Today in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Malaysia is perhaps the only developing country participating in the peacekeeping forces led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), paying in full the cost of our involvement.”
1996-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 51 (1996)
“Not to air them is to encourage supercilious arrogance on the part of those who are most responsible yet who still presume to extol their own virtues and to preach to others. Even if the benefit is minimal, the truth must be told sometimes.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“Until they redeem themselves there, all their talk of human rights will sound hollow. This litany of the woes of the developing countries and the world may seem endless. Actually, the list is far from complete. Trade and protectionism, aid and debts, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development and pressures on environmental issues, Antarctica and many more have not been touched upon. The world of the post-cold-war period is not a thoroughly bad place, but for the developing countries, including Malaysia, there is really very little to crow about. A statement in the General Assembly is not going to change the world. But there is really nowhere else that the woes of the third world can be aired.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“A society has a right to protect itself from the unbridled exercise of rights by individuals or a minority, which in the West has contributed to the collapse of morality and of the structure of human society. If individual and minority rights are so totally inviolable, then you must allow the resurgence of nazism and its violently racist activities in Europe and elsewhere. But it is apparent that the West at least still thinks that racist violence is wrong. We hope they will also accept that freedom from poverty and the wish to develop are essential elements of human rights. Finally, countries like Malaysia must take exception to preaching on human rights from people who willingly condone, and to a certain degree aid, "ethnic cleansing" in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“Whatever the other qualifications may be, they must include a genuine and sincere interest in international welfare. At the ministerial-level World Conference on Human Rights held at Vienna this year, a more comprehensive definition of human rights was presented. Many countries like Malaysia were smeared in Vienna for allegedly refusing to accept the universality of human rights. We subscribe to the universality of human rights, but not to the irresponsible variety propounded by the West. Human rights is not a licence to do anything without regard to the rights of others. The rights of the majority are just as valid as the rights of the minority or the individual.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“It is so good that we cannot wait for the democratic process to bring about its own acceptance by every country. It must be forced upon everyone, whether welcome or not. Yet when it comes to the United Nations, we eschew democracy. And the most undemocratic aspect of the United Nations is the veto power of the five permanent members of the Security Council. We can accept some weighting in their favour, but for each of them alone to be more powerful than the whole membership of the United Nations is not acceptable; it was not before, it is not now, and will not be in the future. Forty-eighth session - 1 October l993 19 For the time being, there can be some permanent members. But the veto must go. A formula must be found for new permanent members of the Security Council.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“They are free to report and to write any number of lies but we hope that occasionally they will cover the truth as well. Power corrupts, but power without responsibility is the most corrupting influence of all. We have heard often enough of the need for restructuring the United Nations. We need this because the world has changed. It is not the world of the immediate post-Second-World-War period that we have today. The people who plunged the world into a horrendous war are now the good guys, telling the world how to be humane. The rapacious invaders of the past are now the good Samaritans, distributing aid to the needy. Will there always be no room for the reformed? We talk of democracy as the only acceptable system of government.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“We will have nowhere to retreat. Already the small nations are being accused of being undemocratic and limiting freedom because we do not allow reception of international television networks. We hope this is because our accusers believe in the freedom of the press, but we suspect it is because they monopolize the world media and stand to profit substantially from the freedom they insist every nation should have. Malaysia believes in press freedom. But that freedom, as with other freedoms and rights, must be accompanied by responsibility. We will continue to expect the Malaysian media to be responsible. We will not forgo the need to enforce that responsibility. But as to the international press, we can only hope and pray that they will realize the damage they are doing. We will not interfere with them.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“Countries can be isolated or accepted despite violations of human rights, depending on how the media present them. And who controls the powerful world media? Not the national governments of tiny developing nations; not even the governments of powerful nations. A very few people in the West control all the international media. Some are journalists, but quite a few are not. Collectively they are Big Brothers. Now they have an even more effective weapon in the form of the worldwide television network. Today they broadcast slanted news. Tomorrow they will broadcast raw pornography to corrupt our children and destroy our culture. They are already doing that in Europe. Today we can still control the reception. The day is fast approaching when only a coat-hanger will be needed to receive television broadcasts from across the world.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“What we see and hear and witness is what the media decide we should see and hear and witness. If the media wants us to be shocked by a massacre, it can broadcast lurid details of that massacre. But if it chooses to broadcast Michael Jackson at the time the massacre was taking place, we will be stomping our feet in total enjoyment. Clearly, the people who decide what we should see and hear hold terrible power. They can have us dancing in the streets or they can have us rioting in the streets with firebrands in our hands, burning, looting and killing. Can we doubt that such people are powerful? Make no mistake: the people who control the media control our minds, and probably control the world. They can make or break presidents, and they have done so.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“Can the average man do anything worthwhile as a result of seeing the daily TV report? We live in the information age. There has been and there will continue to be an unending explosion in the field of information technology. Today, we can sit in our homes and watch and hear a war as it is being fought, witness with eyes and ears a beauty contest as it is being judged, and look through a microscope at a bug as it swims, all via the TV screen. We see all these things as they are, where they are, without a second’s delay. We can watch murder as it is being committed, in all the gory details, and we can be shocked by it. But, then, we can also watch Michael Jackson doing his moon walk at the very moment mass murder and massacres of the most brutal kinds are being committed.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“There is this great democratic principle of "the need to know." But do we all really need to know every detail of every negotiation? Does every Israeli settler or Gaza Strip Arab, or, for that matter, every Tom, Dick and Harry in every part of the world, need to know everything about the negotiations? Must 18 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session Palestinians continue to be killed and be made homeless because everybody needs to know what was said by whom? This need for transparency, this right to information, is an invention of those who want to make money from the information industry. We should know about the bestiality of the Serbs in Bosnia so that we may react, but that knowledge is largely denied us. On the other hand, day in and day out we are shown this parade of negotiators to a peace conference.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“I commend these accords to the good people of Northern Ireland. It is brave not to surrender even one inch, but it takes real bravery to compromise. One may well ask why, in the face of the muchpublicized failure of the United States-sponsored peace talks between the PLO and Israel, there should be this sudden breakthrough. The answer is to be found in the press statements. Good sense cannot prevail when the media demands that statements be made by each and everyone before and after each negotiating session. The negotiators are forced to take public stands, to demonstrate how tough they are and that they will not give even an inch. Having taken those stands, they were no longer able to accommodate good sense. At the peace talks in Norway, there was no press, and good sense was able to prevail.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“Still, when drawing up the balance sheet since the end of the cold war one cannot but highlight two significant items on the credit side. The recent signing of the peace agreement between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Israelis and that between blacks and whites in South Africa must be regarded as the biggest achievements of the post-cold-war period. Admittedly, there is still a great deal to be negotiated before justice can be rendered to all sides and before true peace becomes permanent. But the most crucial obstacles have been cleared. I should like to congratulate all the parties concerned for their good sense and their boldness. The extremists on both sides will not be happy. There will be more violence. But I am sure that those who are for peace and good sense will be as brave in peace as they have been in war.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“We regret, however, the exclusion of certain Muslim countries from participating in the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR). Apparently, the distrust of Muslims is quite widespread. Malaysians are prepared to serve under whoever is appointed by the United Nations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We hope that our troops will be well supported. We will not protest if the United Nations decides to increase pressure on the Serbs, even through the mounting of a military offensive, provided due preparations are made. When we add things up, the peace dividends accruing from the ending of the cold war have not been really substantial. If there has been any change, the debit side is much bigger than the credit side. The most glaring example is the reneging on the much-needed development assistance to poor developing countries.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“Hundreds of thousands of Muslims have died and are dying, and some 2 million have been forced to flee from their burning towns and villages. And what do the erstwhile champions of freedom and democracy do? They actually prevent the victims from defending themselves. Instead, they try to force the victims to accept the partitioning and surrender of their territories, which have been ethnically cleansed by the Serbs and the Croats. Thus are the rapists and murderers to be rewarded. Only the most gullible will still believe that the vociferous champions of freedom and democracy will risk their necks for other people’s freedom and democracy. Malaysia would like to record its satisfaction over the acceptance of Malaysian troops to serve in the United Nations forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“They were viciously attacked by the Serbs, who openly declared that they were doing so - and they are still doing so - to ensure that Europe remains Christian. And they are not being prevented from proceeding in this way by the Europeans. The cruelties committed by the Serbs defy the imagination. In one case, which caused officials in one of the powerful countries of the West to resign in protest over their Government’s passivity, a six-year-old child was repeatedly raped in front of her mother, who not only had to watch but was prevented from giving any help, and the little child died after two days of exposure. That is not an isolated incident. Muslim women, old and young, and little girls have been raped, brutalized and killed by the tens of thousands at the hands of the Serbs, and now the Croats.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“They would provide financial and material help and would promise that they would protect the rebels or provide them with asylum. Forty-eighth session - 1 October l993 17 With the collapse of the Communist bloc, the people there expected help when they overthrew their Communist Governments and established democratic, free-market societies, or they sought independence for their countries. In some instances they found their expectations justified. The Slovenes and the Croats enjoyed the full support of the Europeans and were able to mould new nations. But the Iraqi Kurds and the Bosnians learned that they thought wrong. It is only coincidental that both are Muslim communities. The most tragic case is that of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The crime of the Muslims is that they wish for a nonMuslim, religiously heterogenous State.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“The "evil empire" is no more. But the price in human lives and the displacement of people has been very high. And the price is still being paid. In Georgia, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Tajikistan, much destruction and many killings have taken place and are still taking place. The old economic structure has been destroyed but the new one is far from being in place. Chaos, bloody chaos, prevails in many places. Far from achieving universal peace, the world is treated to a spectacle of unparalleled brutality by the Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In many countries of Europe, fascism has once again reared its ugly head. Houses are torched and people burned to death. And the voters actually approve. During the cold-war days the protagonists constantly tried to provoke uprisings against Governments of the countries they were opposed to.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“There was no end to the good things that would make up the peace dividends. It would be wrong to say that there were no peace dividends at all - the Iran-Iraq war, the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the war in Cambodia, some of the Central American wars, and now the violent Palestinian-Israeli confrontation and South Africa’s apartheid were all resolved, partially or completely. But the world has not become a safer or a better place for a great many. The Soviet Union did not just become a democratic practitioner of free trade, working with the good guys for a better world. It broke up into a number of republics and Russia has become dangerously unstable and ungovernable. The respected great reformer of perestroika and glasnost fame was ousted and disgraced and has been replaced by another, who seems to fare no better.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was still intact then, but all indications were that it had given up the fight; that it was coming to terms with its main adversaries, the countries of the Western so-called free world; and that the cold war was drawing to a close. Peace was breaking out all over the world and there was much talk of peace dividends. The arms race would end, there would be nuclear disarmament and, as the saying goes, swords would be turned into ploughshares. A brave new world would emerge: equitable, just and prosperous. There would be no oppression, no terror and no poverty or starvation. Everyone would embrace democracy and the market economy, moving from authoritarian rule and command economies without a hitch. And a global policeman would see to it that every country stayed in line or faced the consequences.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“We want to develop so as to give them a reasonable standard of living. But we cannot be cowed into not speaking our minds. If the powerful nations do wrong, we will speak out against them even if they say we are unduly suspicious, that we have an exaggerated sense of our own importance, and so on. We can be belittled but we will continue to speak the truth. Here at the United Nations we will say what we feel we should say. Of course, the controlled "free" Western media will not publish it. But the few here will hear us. In any case, it is what we achieve that counts with us. We can do without Western approval. Four or five years ago the world was celebrating the impending collapse of the "evil empire".”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“That we do well and are not in dire need of their development aid is apparently not praiseworthy. Yet, when other developing countries perform badly they are chastised and told to do better or they will get no more aid or loans. But we will soldier on. We really should not care about what is said of us. Unfortunately, these negative remarks make life that much more difficult for us. We need foreign investments and to get them we need a reputation for stability, competence and predictability. But when investors are told repeatedly that we are about to explode in racial violence, and so on, they are likely to invest elsewhere. Of course, what is said about us is untrue - lies. But these people apparently subscribe to the dictum that a lie repeated often enough will be believed. We care for the well-being of our people.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“But we are not quite typical. We have actually made progress. We are 16 General Assembly - Forty-eighth session quite stable despite a multiracial time bomb we inherited from our colonial past. We are fairly competent in the running of our affairs. Such is our progress that we actually contemplate building buildings which should be the preserves of our betters. And we dare to speak our minds. These are unforgivable sins and we are for ever being reminded that we should not be too ambitious. We are told that our achievements are temporary, that next year we will go the way of their preconception of third world countries. Of course, last year and the years before we were told the same. But so far we have not obliged. We are, however, humbly aware that nothing is permanent. Our detractors may yet prove right.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“Stoyan Ganev, who discharged his duties with dedication and earnestness and successfully guided the efforts to revitalize the work of the General Assembly. I also take this opportunity to welcome, on behalf of Malaysia, the six countries which have joined the United Nations since last fall: Andorra, the Czech Republic, Eritrea, Monaco, the Slovak Republic and The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Their membership will help to strengthen the United Nations in the execution of its increasingly complex role in the maintenance of international peace and security and the promotion of international economic cooperation. Malaysia is a developing third world country. We should, according to the stereotypical Western concept of a third world country, be politically unstable, administratively incompetent and economically depressed.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)
“Before I begin my statement, I should like to extend, on behalf of the Government and people of Malaysia, our deepest condolences to India for the devastating earthquake that resulted in the loss of thousands of lives and massive destruction of property. I would like to join other speakers in extending my congratulations to Mr. Insanally on his election as President of the General Assembly at its forty-eighth session. His election to that important office is an honour to his country, with which Malaysia enjoys warm and friendly relations. With his experience and ability, I am confident that he will discharge his responsibilities well and lead this Assembly to a successful conclusion of its work. I would also like to express my appreciation of his predecessor, Mr.”
1993-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 48 (1993)