SPEECH BY THE PRIM11E M INISTER, AT THE PARLIM ENTARY LUNCHEON
FOR THE PRIM E MINISTER OFM14ALAYSIA, 16 OCTOBER 1975
On each of my nine visits to your capital
since 1962 as Deputy Leader of the Opposition, as Leader
of the Opposition, as Prime Minis ter of: Australia, you have
always received me and I have been able to draw on your
wisdom and experience. I have valued that highly and
equally value the warmth of your friendship. It may be
that in Australia we cannot welcome you with that natural
grace, the instinctive elegance, the unaffected charm which
is the characteristic of the Malaysian people. But there
is nothing lacking in our warmth of feeling in our welcome
to you and Toh Puan Rahah and our warmth and goodwill
towards your people and your nation.
My pleasure in welcoming you here on your first
Prime Ministerial visit derives in considerable part from
the honour I find in being host to a leader who must rank
as South East Asia's longest serving and most dedicated
and industrious servant of his people. For 20 years from
the beginning of national independence, you have served as
a Minister. Under your guidance the last five years have
been years of marked growth and development within Malaysia.
I recall my previous visits to your country
not only because -of the pleasure the memory holds for me
but as a measure of the remarkable and beneficial changes
which have occurred in our region in that period. in
1962 ASEAN could not have existed, could hardly have been
contemplated. Confrontation has given way to regional
cooperation which as made ASEAN one of the world's most
truly effective regional associations. All the nations
of our region except our commuon great reighbour Indonesia
refused with varying degrees of hostility and ignorance,
to recognise the reality of China. A thirty-year civil war
in Indo-China was in a temporary lull before its bloodiest
and most catastrophic renewal. The concept of a zone of
peace, freedom and neutrality for the region would have
been dismissed as dangerous nonsense as indeed it still
is in certain quarters.
As Prime Minister, Tun, you have been very much
in the vanguard of those who have had the foresight to
take positive steps in the developments which have ended
old hostilities and the old sterilities. You led the way
in recognising the reality of China and others have followed
this lead. And now with the end of the Vietnamese and
Cambodian wars your Government is actively working for
harmony amkongst all the nations of South East Asia. I
cannot but agree that the end of the war in Indo-China
provides the region with its first real opportunity to
achieve peace, progress and stability. You are to be
commended for making cooperation and conciliation the
basis of your relations with the new Indo China G overnments. ./ 2
2.
You realistically ackanxledge , I know, that the
process of reconciliation will not be without its
frustrations. But you will persevere. In the end
trust and goodwill will be rewarded with the development
of lasting links and mutual respect. You have
urged ZOPPAN. Our region must not be the area of
confrontation and competition between the Great Powers.
It is gratifying to reflect upon our
exchanges in Kuala Lumpur in January 1974, when the
0 war in Indo China still raged, and note that many
of the hopes we held then for the future of the region
have come to be fulfilled.
The relationship between our two countries
today is deepening and widening. Trade, investment,
development assistance, defence cooperation, participation
in common regional organisations and in particular,
the Commonwealth of Nations, and student exchange, and
tourism, make our relationship meaningful, fruitful,
living. We share common inheritance of institutions,
Q particularly those relating to parliamentary democracy
and the rule of law.
Q We share the Federal system and a
bicameral system, we share to a varying degree the experience
of the difficulties of both. You, Prime'Minister,
may even have experienced the passing pangs which come
from the pretensions of provincial satraps.
There may even be occasional murmurs against the cerntralists
in Kuala Lumpur as there are against your counterparts
in Canberra. Democracy, particularly in a federal system,
is extraordinarily complex and extraordinarily fragile.
Around the world it is going through its most challenging
time. It is under challenge in nations with a
relatively brief tradition of Parliamentary democracy,
and in those with a long tradition. We are two of the
3.
handful of Parliamentary democracies left in our*
region. There are those in both our countries, who
in their different ways, are challenging the system,
challenging the tradition. The Aalaysian national
Parliament is only twenty years old. It would be
natural that such a nation would look to nations
with a more mature Parliamentary system, an older
tradition, well-entrenched democracy conventions,
as an example nations like Australia, Parliaments
like the Australian Parliament. It would be
appalling if we were unable to get t-hat example.
You, Mr Prime M1iniser, have battled valiantly in your
country to uphold the essence of democracy. You
have done your part. May I say in this Parliamentary
gathering, as one Parliamentarian-to another, I
intend to play mine.