Need to reactivate economy: Dr M

Daily Express (Sabah) - 11 December, 2005
Malaysia needs to reactivate its economy if the objective of turning the country into a developed nation by 2020 is to be achieved, former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Saturday. 
"We should not slow down, if we do, then we may not make it in achieving Vision 2020. If we don't spend, then the country will not grow," he said. In his usual combative style while giving a talk entitled "Current Issues in Malaysian Politics", organised by the Political and Economic Studies Institute (IKAPE) here, he said the money spent on the so-called mega projects during his time as Prime Minister was meant to revitalise the economy and creating growth for the country. 
"But if you don't spend money you become poor. I am a bit of a spendthrift with government money, not my money. When you spend, you spur the economy. If we had not spent money since 1981, we would not have developed (the country)," he said. Acknowledging that saving was good, Dr Mahathir said the money would be put to better use if it were invested in "something and getting something in return." 
He also Malaysia should be more careful in clinching deals with other nations as history had shown that Malaysia most of the time lost out in these deals. 
"As an example, I am told that we are expected to sign a FTA (Free Trade Agreement) with Japan on Dec 13. In the agreement we can export fruits and vegetables to Japan without tax and Japan will export its CKD (Completely Knocked Down) cars here tax-free. When implemented, Japanese cars will be cheaper. It might be good for consumers but not for the local car industry. I worry that there is a dearth of information on this FTA (with Japan)," he added. He cited another example where Malaysia signed an agreement to buy Russian-made MIGs fighter jets but "somehow part of the allocation was to buy American F18s jets". 
"While we are free to do anything with the MIGs, the agreement with the Americans specify that we cannot use the F18s for combat...it shows how smart we are at negotiating terms. If we go on making such agreements then we would end up bankrupt". Speaking on the proposed new bridge linking Singapore and Malaysia to replace the 80-year old causeway, Dr Mahathir said he preferred if the Malaysian Government went ahead to build the bridge without waiting for what Singapore was planning to do next. 
"If we want Singapore to be happy then we have to wait. I feel we should not wait. When I became the PM in 1981, I went to meet Lee Kuan Yew (the Singapore Premier then)...I bent backwards on many things but I could not get him to agree on anything. Dr Mahathir said he was told when he was Prime Minister that Singapore would not agree to replace the causeway as long as Goh Chok Tong was still the Prime Minister because " Goh has a nostalgia for the causeway". 
But, he said, now that Goh was no longer the Prime Minister, Singapore had yet to agree on the project, adding "but Goh is now Senior Minister and is still powerful. I don't think the new link would be built anytime soon," he quipped. Speaking on ethnicity, Dr Mahathir said in 50 to 100 years to come, there would not be a single country in the world, except China, that would controlled by a single ethnic society. 
He said in this borderless world, the future would be different as a specific community would not be confined to a certain country and at that time the Malaysian experience, where various races lived in peace and harmony would be an interesting subject for study. 
"If there would be a single country with a single ethnicity it would be China. It is just too big...it would always remain Chinese. You just cannot overwhelm 1.2 billion Chinese," he said.
Source: Daily Express (Sabah) | www.dailyexpress.com.my