Dr Mahathir urges Asian leaders to stop "kowtowing" to the West

Once a soldier, always a soldier

A lesson from history - Oct 11, 2004 

SINGAPORE, Oct 11 (AFP) - Former Malaysian
prime minister Mahathir Mohamed urged Asia’s leaders
on Monday to stop “kowtowing” to Westerners, warning
continued subservience would lead to domestic
uprisings and terrorist attacks.

Mahathir, whose anti-Western rhetoric often caused
controversy during his 22 years in power, told a
university lecture in Singapore on democracy and
Asian leadership that Asian minds were still
“colonised” by Western influence.

“Asian leaders and Asians in general have yet to
achieve freedom of thought, freedom to look
critically at the ideas and idealogies coming from
outside Asia,” Mahathir, 79, said.

“They are still beholden to the ethnic Europeans.
They are still Euro-centric. Many are apologetic
because they believe they have fallen far short of
the standards that the ethnic Europeans expect of
them.”

Mahathir said Asians were “waiting for a
leader, a credible leader from a credible nation”.

“Those who kowtow too much to the ethnic Europeans
should not be surprised if their people will rise
against them, will commit acts of terror, or
whatever,” he said.

“Asian leaders have a choice. Assume and assert
true leadership, seize the initiative in terms of
ideas and thoughts, and restore self-respect. Or face
the humiliation of foreign hegemony and the contempt
of their own people.”

Mahathir peppered his speechand ensuing question-and-answer sesssion with
pro-Asian, anti-Western references, such as: “Asians
were civilized long before Europeans were civilized.

They should learn from us.” “When the ethnic
Europeans were still clothed in animal skin, Asians
were already ruling vast areas under complex
government systems,” he said.

While conceding that democracy was the best
governance model in theory, Mahathir devoted much of
his 30-minute speech to the pitfalls of Western
democratic systems.

“There is evidence that many Asians have not
understood what democracy is all about and what can
result from the democratic process,” he said, warning
“liars” and the “cunning few” often rise to the top.

While saying that democracies unique to Asia should
evolve gradually, he also lauded the efforts of a
host of regional dictators to develop their nations.

“Undemocratic Asian leaders in the distant and
recent past have actually been instrumental in
dragging their countries and their people kicking and
screaming into the modern world,” he said.

Mahathir cited China’s Deng Xiaoping and South
Korea’s Park Chung-Hee as undemocratic leaders who
had advanced their nation, and quipped whether
Thailand’s late-19th, early-20th century monarch
Chulalongkorn would have achieved his reforms with a
one-seat parliamentary majority.

Mahathir was in power in Malaysia from 1981 to
October last year, and the United Malays National
Organisation coalition he led has ruled the nation
since independence from the British in 1957.

His tenure was often criticised by human rights
groups and opposition politicians for undemocratic
techniques such as muzzling the press and the jailing
of political opponents, but he oversaw strong economic
development.

kma/mba/th Singapore-Malaysia-Mahathir AFP

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