NEW YORK, Sept 26 — Powerful countries that engage in actions to further their own interests are the biggest threat to global multilateralism, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said during the World Leaders Forum at Columbia University here.
“The challenge to multilateralism is unilateralism. There are some powerful countries which do not consider the feelings or the thinking of other countries.
“But because of their strength, they decide to make decisions and do things on their own — for their own interest without due regard to others who are affected by whatever it is that they do,” he said.
The prime minister said that in many instances smaller countries have no choice but to give in as well.
“When we are dealing with very powerful countries, we have to accept that we are not going to be able to go to war with them. In many instances we have to give in.
“Somebody said the strong will take what they will and the weak will yield what they must,” he added.
Dr Mahathir, who was talking on the topic entitled “Rule of Law Through Multilateralism” said multilateralism was unavoidable in current times.
“Today the world is interconnected. The world has become very small. Communication has become very good both in terms of telecommunication and travel.
“Whether you like or not, the world has become smaller and you have become neighbours with each other. You cannot ignore your neighbour.
“If they decide to burn their forests, you will be affected. If they decide not to trade with you, you also lose out.
“What other countries do has an effect on other countries. So, multilateralism is something that is unavoidable now,’’ he said.
As for multilateralism in Malaysia, Dr Mahathir said this was proven by the fact that almost all the communities in Malaysia were represented in the government.
“Malaysia is a multi-racial country. We have three major races: Malay, Chinese and Indians and about 30 different tribes.
“The way to go was of course to get everybody involved. So, from the very beginning, we had MPs and members of the Cabinet coming from all the different races and tribes.
“The indigenous Malays were in the majority. They could have seized power for themselves and this was what the colonialists suspected that we would do but we didn’t.
“We shared the power to rule the country. I think that would constitute multilateralism,” he added.
Dr Mahathir also said Malaysia has always believed in multilateralism in its relations with other countries.
“We have always believed in solving things through negotiation, arbitration or court of law.
“If we had espoused unilateralism, we would have solved problems through confrontation and even war.
“But we have never done that. Instead we have negotiated with our neighbours.
“In the case of Thailand, we decided that in the area of sea that is claimed by the both of us, that 50 per cent of whatever that was produced would belong to one party and the other 50 per cent to the other.
“In the claims of a small rock (Pulau Batu Putih) by Singapore and Malaysia, we decided to the World Court and it wrongly decided for Singapore.
“But in the case of two beautiful islands (Sipadan and Ligitan) off the coast of Malaysia, off Borneo, the court decided that the islands belonged to us.
“It was a very wise decision,” he said to laughter from the crowd.
