PRESS CONFERENCE BY PRIME MINISTER OF MALAYSIA

27 September 1996

Press Briefing

19960927 FOR INFORMATION OF UNITED NATIONS SECRETARIAT ONLY

Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Prime Minister of Malaysia, held a press conference at Headquarters this afternoon following his address to the General Assembly's general debate earlier in the day.

A correspondent said it was well known that Malaysia did not favour a second term for the Secretary-General. He asked whether Dr. Mahathir had any specific candidates in mind for the post. The Prime Minister replied that his country had no favourites, but that it did have "some names" whose candidacy it would be willing to support.

Another correspondent, noting that Malaysia was perceived as a source of innovative political thinking on behalf of the third world, asked why Malaysia was, paradoxically, a country that wasted its natural resources on arms purchases. The Prime Minister replied that, even in the modern market, advertising pressures prevailed. Arms purveyors "tell you that if you don't buy their weapons they will go to another country". They play the balance-of- insecurity game, telling potential purchasers that since a given country possesses a given system, your own should possess it as well. In Malaysia's case they draw attention, for example, to the situation surrounding the Spratly Islands, and thus his own country finds itself forced to buy and to be drawn willy-nilly into the arms race.

Asked whether Malaysia intended to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear- Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), he answered in the positive.

Asked whether he saw the current session as laying the foundations for a more efficient General Assembly, the Prime Minister acknowledged that the election of a compatriot as President of the Assembly did encourage hopes for such an improvement. But the cooperation of many Member States would be necessary for lasting reform, he added.

Noting that Malaysia's voice had been an independent one for many years, a correspondent asked Dr. Mahathir to account for that phenomenon. The Prime Minister replied that his country simply wanted it to be that way. Its opponents were free to criticize Malaysia, and Malaysia was equally free to counter-criticize.

Another correspondent asked whether, given Malaysia's economic dependence on the North, there had been attempts to stifle its independent voice. Dr. Mahathir said there had been suggestions of such attempts.

Pointing out that Malaysia traded with the North but received no aid from it, he said his country was obliged to speak out despite attempts to pressure or silence it.

Asked whether he had any formulas to propose for reform of the United Nations, Dr. Mahathir said he had "plenty". The Organization, in particular the Security Council, should not remain eternally tied to the results of the Second World War, which had determined the original structure of the United Nations. But some of the victors in that war were not so strong any more, indeed they would probably lose any war they engaged in today. It was absurd that five nations should dictate terms to 180 other Member States. The Organization was not democratic. People urged Malaysia to be democratic, but democracy should begin at the United Nations.

Asked what Malaysia had in mind in discussions of the expansion of the Security Council, the Prime Minister said that wider participation was a concern, particularly by the poorer nations. The current system of a single paralyzing veto was frustrating and unacceptable. Malaysia might accept an alternative formula, perhaps admitting the force of two vetoes out of five of the permanent members, or an extended structure according veto rights to one or more of the non-permanent members.

A correspondent referred to the removal from the United Nations compound in Kabul and subsequent public hanging of former Afghan leader Mohammed Najibullah, and the virtual assumption of control in Afghanistan by Taliban forces. He also evoked the events of the past 48 hours in Palestine and the occupied territories. He asked what was Malaysia's position on those developments. The Prime Minister said that the world should do something urgently to stop the Afghans murdering one another. As for the situation in the Middle East, it flowed from the unmaking of an agreement already committed to by the parties. Current events there were occurring because the new Government of Israel refused to acknowledge the commitments solemnly assumed by its predecessor. What was the good of an agreement if the next government simply tossed it into the dustbin?

Asked whether the latest news from the Middle East would alter Malaysia's relations with Israel, Dr. Mahathir said his country's position remained unchanged. It would not recognize Israel until that country honoured all agreements.

Returning to the question of the next Secretary-General, a correspondent asked whether an African candidate should be given priority or whether the post should go to the person best suited for the job. Another correspondent asked whether regional considerations or expertise should determine the choice of a successor to the Secretary-General. Dr. Mahathir replied that his country would accept the wishes of Member States on the question.

Malaysia Press Conference - 3 - 27 September 1996

Asked for his views on the current push for "globalization" and "internationalization", Dr. Mahathir said that he was against the North's interpretation of the concept of globalization. The countries of the North seemed to see it as simply an opening of markets. But the South did not possess the resources and infrastructure of the North. It had no huge banks. A playing field was not level just because everyone had the right to play. A giant taking the field against a midget was not a fair contest, he added.

Asked how such an imbalance might be dealt with in Asia, Dr. Mahathir said that the countries of the region had been denied the right to create their own economic bloc -- an east Asian economic forum -- along the lines of the European Union or the North American Free Trade Agreement. That idea had been mooted, but had been vetoed by a great Power's objections to being excluded from such an arrangement.

Asked what the South's media could contribute to the concept of a free press, the Prime Minister said that people should stop talking nonsense about a "free media". There was no such thing. Governments, media proprietors and reporters controlled the thrust of information. When he, himself, had put forward refutations of press reports they had not been published, or else had been excerpted. Television was equally censored. Where under such circumstances was press freedom? Both sides should be reported equally. In the case of Palestine, for example, he had read before the recent steep escalation of casualty figures, that five people had been killed. He had assumed that meant that two and a half Palestinians and two and a half Israelis had been killed. But no: the five dead were all Palestinians. Why had the reports not said so? All the pictures had been of Palestinians shooting at Israelis, he said, asking "so how come so many Palestinians were killed?"

Noting that Malaysia favoured a time-bound framework for the elimination of nuclear weapons, a correspondent asked the Prime Minister for a realistic assessment of the time such a process would incur. Dr. Mahathir replied that the international community would simply have to "press forward". Some day, some leaders in the nuclear-weapon States might recognize that possession of such weapons was wrong. Why were they needed? Some conventional weapons were almost as destructive. He suggested that a return to handguns, if not actually to bows and arrows, might be a wiser course for humankind.

Asked whether Malaysia had sent any message to the Palestinian leadership, the Prime Minister said "No". There had merely been contacts here at Headquarters.

A correspondent pressed Dr. Mahathir for information on other possible areas of United Nations reform. He mentioned an expanded role for the General Assembly. For example, the "Group of Seven" industrialized countries had probated for itself the right to manage the world economy. Malaysia's debt

Malaysia Press Conference - 4 - 27 September 1996

was now two and a half times greater in consequence. Decisions on world economic management should be decided in the Assembly, if not by simple majority then at least according to a 66 per cent or 70 per cent reckoning.

Evoking Malaysia's positions in regard to North-South relations, a correspondent asked about the cooperation, or non-cooperation, the country received from Indonesia. The Prime Minister said that cooperation with Indonesia was excellent, adding that indeed, when he returned to Malaysia he would be in time for an official visit to Kuala Lumpur by President Suharto.

Returning to the issue of globalization, the World Trade Organization, and the recent Singapore meeting on investment and labour issues, a correspondent asked for the Prime Minister's views. He stated that it was important that the South took note of North pressures to push it into conformity with North wishes.

Asked about the problem of checking the spread of indecent material on the Internet, the Prime Minister said there was an urgent need to reach agreement on what should be permitted and what should be excized. Pornography on the Internet was criminal, polluting children's minds and undermining other people's cultures.

A correspondent asked whether there should be a summit follow-up to the 1992 United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED). Dr. Mahathir replied that UNCED had produced resolutions that had been quickly reneged on. Funds supposed to be earmarked for poor-country efforts to clean up their environment had not been forthcoming. A new summit would not help. There were too many summit meetings, he concluded.

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