Dr Mahathir: Asean not tapping its full potential

BALI: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has lamented that Asean is not fully tapping its potential as an economic powerhouse, despite having abundant resources and a consumer market of nearly 700 million people.

“This archipelago is full of rich resources, not just oil, and there are a lot of minerals.

“We are not exploiting them. If you dig out the minerals, you can use them to manufacture and add value,” said Dr Mahathir, who is back on the Asean scene after becoming Malaysia’s prime minister for the second time.

He said Asean had a population of almost 700 million people, who are getting richer, but the strange thing was that they were a “consumer group”.

“They just buy and consume things from the outside, whereas with (this) kind of population, Asean can be a big manufacturing centre, like China.

“China before was very poor, the people were poor, but because the population is big, the local consumption supports the local industry. Asean can become a very big grouping and become much richer,” he told Bernama and RTM at the end of the inaugural Asean Leaders’ Gathering on Thursday.

The meeting was held on the sidelines of the 2018 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group, themed “Achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and Overcoming the Development Gap Through Regional and Global Collaborative Actions”.

On whether there was any particular industry that Malaysia could attract, Dr Mahathir said: “We can see a lot of motorcycles here. Far more than in Malaysia. But not a single one of those motorcycles is made in Asean or Indonesia.”

He said despite a big domestic market that could be used to promote its own products, Asean was not exploiting it.

“(We) buy everything from outside — motorcars, motorcycles. All bought from outside. Everything we can make here.

“If you do not have the technology, you can import the technology. You can get foreign investors, but we do not go in that direction.”

Asked on whether he was disappointed with Asean member countries, he said: “I am not disappointed, but (after) 15 years that I have been away… they still do not integrate well.”

He said the 10-member grouping should get rid of suspicious feelings so it could adhere to the principle of “prosper thy neighbour”.

“There is some lingering feeling that we cannot trust each other. Yet with this market, we can be a very big power… but every country has its own laws and policies.”

Dr Mahathir said he believed that if the laws and policies, especially those related to investment, could be standardised, Asean could make faster progress.

“Every country has a different investment law.

“We should have a common one, (perhaps) not exactly the same, so that it is easier to invest in each other’s country. At the moment, it is not easy.”

Touching on sustainable development, Dr Mahathir said Malaysia had achieved a lot of the goals outlined under the United Nation’s SDG.

Among the 17 SDGs to be achieved by 2030 are no poverty, zero hunger, clean water, quality education, gender equality, decent work and economic growth, sustainable cities and climate action.

“I think if people are conversant with the subject, there is a lot which we can contribute because we have achieved a lot of those goals already.

“I think if we work together with others, we can benefit from their experience and they can benefit from our experience.”

Dr Mahathir, who is known for being an outspoken leader, said developed nations were not being fair to developing countries.

“The developed countries are telling us, sustainability, sustainability, which means that you cannot do this, you cannot do that. Because this is wrong, this destroys your forest, animals and habitats and all that.

“However, when they were developing, they did not have these problems, they did not talk about sustainable development or anything like that.

“They cut all their trees. Remember Robin Hood and Sherwood Forest? There is no Sherwood Forest now.

“Now they are telling us that we must absorb carbon dioxide that they produce. It is not fair.”