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Boao Forum For Asia Timely: Malaysian PM Mahathir
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Bin Mohamad said Tuesday that the Boao Forum for Asia is especially timely as the world is going through one of its periodical revolutions which put many communities under tremendous stress and strain.
Addressing the Boao Forum for Asia Inaugural Ceremony, the prime minister said that what the Asian countries need is a forum to air their problems and fears and to receive serious and sympathetic hearing.
Mahathir said, "They need to discuss new ideas thoroughly. They need to do serious studies and to work out different scenarios. From the results they should make their common stand in international fora."
"I believe the Boao Forum can do this and more. The Boao Forum can be of great service to Asians and to the world in the challenging years of the 21st century," he said.
In the 21st century serious efforts must be made to eliminate poverty throughout the world, he said, noting that the world is never as rich as it is today and it is immoral that in a world so rich there should be people and countries which are so distressingly poor.
Mahathir said that Asians have a right to think for themselves. They should not be passive receptacles for non-Asian ideas. They must put up their ideas with righteousness and confidence.
"We Asians are not bereft of wisdom and innovativeness. Our ideas are every bit as good as anyone else's. They can be good not only for ourselves but for the world as well," he said.
"Long ago we gave the world their religions and the wisdom of Confucius, Tagore and others. It cannot be that today we are totally lacking in wisdom and bereft of solutions for the ailments of mankind," he said, "I am sure that even within this hall there are brilliant minds capable of shaping a greater future for mankind."
"Asia and Asians have a great future in the 21st century. We are not going to dominate the world. The 21st century will be the century of the world. But Asians must play a big role in the creation of this century of the world," the prime minister said.
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