NOTE FROM THE BOOKS
Reflections on ASEAN
Mahatir Mohamad



1. ASEAN has played such a critical role in turning what was an area of turmoil, antagonism, conflict, sometimes violent conflict, an area with no history of cooperation whatsoever, into a zone of cooperative peace and prosperity.

2. The vital role of ASEAN as a stabilizing influence and as a catalyst in developing the economic resilence of the region. We can not prosper alone in a region that is in turmoil and unstable. To prosper we must have the kind of regional environment that is conducive to economic growth.

3. ASEAN is really a sound place for investment that is ready to become a partner in development. We don’t want ASEAN to be merely a “ storehouse for commodities “. It needs the relocation of industries from Japan or other places to ASEAN to take advantages of lower cost of production and establishment of “ halfway house “ in ASEAN from where value-added products could be exported to third countries.

4. The problems of the poor are likely to spill over in the form of refugees, smuggling, black markets etc. Poor countries are not good trading partners. Helping neigbour to become prosperous is therefore mutually beneficial.

5. The issues of terrorism and its equation with Islam by some has caused much concern in ASEAN. Radicalism and extremists has been rejected not only by the gov but also by the people. They have not been able to make headway.

6. ASEAN is conceived as a simple forum to overcome the communications problem between neighbours who then knew little about each other ( suspicious strangers ). It was not economic cooperation that was the motive behind the formation of ASEAN.

7. Certainly, it was not a strategic concept designed to make the five ASEAN nations an economic and political entity. ASEAN is siply a fairly ad hoc solution to a communications problem between neighbours who were strangers to each other. To know each other better before real cooperation. Learning from each other the formula for success.

8. All the ASEAN countries are now believers in free trade and free enterprise. Foreign capital is welcome by all. Incentives for investments are common. Joint ventures are popular. The centre of gravity of economic growth is shifting slowly from the West to the East and especially ASEAN region.

9. Practice of protectionism by the co-signatories of the Bretton Woods agreement is “ morally wrong or harmful ”. We opposed the linking of non-trade issues such as democracy, human & labour rights and environtment as conditionalities imposed upon NICs. This is another guise for protectionism.

10. Free trade is still the ideal policy for our interdependent world. We are going to need supplies or expertise or capital from outside. But the choice is not between free trade and countertrade. The choice is between countertrade and no trade. In that situation countertrade will not only look good but it will give some results. Countertrade will succeed to damage the protectionist to some degree.

11. The weak and the strong must support each other in good times and as in bad.

12. The economic concepts within ASEAN are progressing very slowly. We are progressing with “ deliberate speed “. We want to build a structure, brick by brick, so that the final edifice will stand the test of time. We don’t want to act in haste just to satisfy our ego.

13. ASEAN is a major supplier of natural resources to the world. We produce and export the bulk of the world’s supply of natural rubber, tin, tropical hardwoods, pepper, copra and palm oil. We are also a major producer and exporter of pretoleum, gas, rice and other food products.

14. In return, we buy manufactured products. We are in a hurry to develop, to industrialise with help of modern technology and to raise the standard of living of the people. ASEAN have always been each other’s competitors. Consequently intra-ASEAN trade has not been significant.