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| Reference Material |
| Mahathir slams globalization By The Associated Press October 21, 2001, Today SHANGHAI, China. � With Pacific Rim leaders pushing more economic globalization, Malaysia�s leader delivered an alternative broadside Saturday against ways of the West he says are leaving too many people behind. �The sacred truth that every globalization ideologue knew not so long ago was that globalization is always good � always good for everyone, at all times, in every way,� Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad told business leaders gathered here for the weekend Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Not so, Mahathir said. �This is so contrary to the facts as they have been experienced by the countries of East Asia, Africa and Latin America,� he said, adding there have been few winners and far too many losers���. Mahathir said there has to be a better way than following �the principal pulpits of capitalism and the free matket, including the WTO. �If globalization is to be sustainable, there must be many more winners and many fewer losers, and they should both be a mixture of the rich and the poor,� the Ma;aysian said. �The winners must not win to an obscene extent, and the losers must not lose to an equally obscene extent,� Mahathir said. Mahathir has long been a vocal critic of free trade as promoted by the wealthy industrial countries � and a foe of financiers including billionaire George Soros, whom Mahathir accused of aggravating Asia�s financial crisis of l997-1998 through opportunistic currency speculation����. �Given the mountain of money and the power that comes out of the almighty dollar, is it any surprise that global capitalism is in charge of the �Washington consensus� of the IMF, of the World Bank, of the WTO, of the wealthiest and most powerful nations in the world?� Mahathir asked. He said some proponents of globalization have created a �truth deficit�. �There is simply too little fact and too much self-serving fiction,� Mahathir said. �There are too many who are prepared to tell lies and to bend the truth to push through their sacred cause.� ***** See also Tony Abaya's columns Mar Roxas on Free Trade, More on Free Trade and others. |