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| Reference Material |
| Mahathir says rich nations run globalization for own benefit By The Associated Press June 21, 2002, Philippine Daily Inquirer KUALA LUMPUR � Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad accused rich countries Thursday of using globalization for their own benefit and said little had changed in the world financial system since the Asian economic crisis five years ago. Mahathir, one of the world�s most prominent critics of globalization, told the annual party congress of his United Malays National Organization that the international financial system threatens small countries. �Other than capital, there is no freedom to cross borders,� Mahathir said. �Poor people may not migrate to rich nations.� Giant mergers creating huge global banks and companies would overwhelm smaller countries and turn their citizens into �paid employees of foreign giants,� he said��. Mahathir refused to take Malaysia under a recovery program run by the International Monetary Fund, as some of his neighbors did, and flouted IMF orthodoxy by fixing the exchange rate and imposing capital controls. Malaysia defied predictions of disaster and recovered more quickly than most countries, though the boom never fully returned. Critics have said that the economic crisis was caused by cronyism and lack of transparency, but Mahathir said that the culprits were feckless currency and stock speculators.� Although it is clear that this caused the economic disaster, the relevant authorities still refuse to change the international financial regime.� Mahathir said. �They wish to perpetuate this regime in order to rake in profits for themselves.� Mahathir, 76, has led this Southeast Asian country for 21 ears and transformed it from a commodity-dependent backwater to one of the richest countries in the region, with a thriving electronics export sector. |