Is
PRIME MINISTER
SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON P J KEATING MP
DINNER GIVEN BY THE PRIME MINISTER OF MALAYSIA,
KUALA LUMPUR, 15 JANUARY 1996
Prime Minister, thank you for the honour you do me and my country with this
dinner and this visit, the fIrst by an Australian Prime Minister since 1984.
The friendship between our two countries Is old and runs deep,
50,000 Australian servicemen and women have served in Malaysia, and many
lie burled In Malaysian soil. 120,000 Malaysians have studied In. Australia.
200,000 Malaysians and Australians come and go between our two countries
each year.
Prime Minister, I know Australians hold your country In warm regard. I know
they want Australia's relationship with Malaysia and the Malaysian people to
thrive. And it should thrive. Our shared past provides a strong foundation,
but increasingly the strength of our relationship derives from the future we
share. Whatever the benefits of our relationship In years gone by, there are
more many more to be gained in the years head.
The past can no longer be the primary source of understanding between us.
We must work hard to understand the modern face of our two countries.
Consistent with the changes being made In both countries, and with the fluid
International environment In which both countries live, Australia and Malaysia
need a fresh, contemporary appreciation of each other.
Change Is something we have In common. It Is fundamental to our
contemporary existence as undeniable as any fact In our history.
Under your leadership, Prime Minister, Malaysia has set Itself the goal of
becoming a developed country by 2020. And anyone who has watched your
progress In recent times will be In little doubt that you will succeed.
Malaysia Is now one of Asia's most rapidly growing economies, with a rate of
growth consistently better than 8 per per cent, and this year at 9.5 per cent.
Your country Is a dynamic force for prosperity in the region, and this modem
city of Kuala Lumpur Is emerging as a major regional business centre.
It is a quite remarkable economic transformation, a remarkable national
achievement and, Prime Minister, It Is, Indelibly, a remarkable tribute to your
personal vision, leadership and energy..
Malaysia's economic revolution is watched with admiration in Australia, where
the necessity for economic change and the rewards and difficulties which
accompany It, are well understood. The process has been different In Australia,
but the ambition has been the same. We recognisedmore than a decade ago
that our future depended upon sweeping economic change.
The changes we made turned Australia Into one of the most open economies
in the world: open, Innovative and diverse, forty. per cent more competitive than
it was a decade ago and growing consistently.
Our mining and rural industries remain great strengths and continue to
complement the needs of rapidly developing countries in the region, including
Malaysia. But our fastest growing exports are manufactures and services, and
elaborately transformed manufactures are growing faster than anything else.
This is why we say, Prime Minister, that we understand the need for change
and the realilis of it.
And because this change In our economy has been made contemporaneously
with the new dynamic growth In countries like your own. we also say that this
Is the region where Australia's future lies.
The facts speak for themselves. Sixty per cent of all our exports go to the
countries of Asia. Forty per cent of our Imports now come from those
countries. By the end of this year all of our top ten export markets will very likely be In the
Asia-Pacific region.
The level of our engagement with Asia Is unprecedented and I believe
Irreversible. And not just In economic terms. We now seek our security In the
region not from the region.
We continue to participate in the Five Power Defence Arrangements, which
contribute directly to the defence of Malaysia and Singapore. We are an active
participant in the ASEAN Regional Forum. We have just signed an historic
security agreement with Indonesia, which signals the complete confidence
each of us has In the strategic intentions of the other. And our alliance with the
United States constitutes a dependable pillar of security In the region.
Our cultural links with the countries of the region go back a surprisingly long
way. Australia has long been one of the " universities of Asia" and that tradition
continues with nearly 70,000 Asian students around 10 per cent of the
Australian student population now studying in Australia.
At the same time, Australians are increasingly learning from Asia. . In no other
country in the world, in fact, is such a high proportion of the population studying
the languages of Asia as second languages. And in ten years' time we aim to
have 60 per cent of Australian school students studying an Asian language.
At a less formal level, the last decade and a half has seen an extraordinary
growth in our awareness of Asian countries and their cultures. Travelling In
Asia is much more common. For many young Australians, the countries of
Asia have replaced Europe as the place to go and see and learn.
At the same time, of course, Asian migration to Australia has radically
increased our understanding of Asian cultures and values. And with Asians
comprising the largest proportion of new migrants each year, this Is a pattern
which Is bound to continue.
Prime Minister4 none of this is to say that we are In the process of becoming
" Asian". Weocinnot be Asian any more than we can be European, American or
African. What we can be, and what we are determined to become, Is a society
which is rare In Its cultural diversity, richness and tolerance, and a country
which Is strong and Integrated with the region around It.
Prime Minister, there are almost limitless opportunities to develop what Is
already a very healthy relationship between our two countries... Last-year trade
between Malaysia-and Australia increased by 22 per cent. Tomorrow, when I
talk to business people from both countries, it will be with a view to Increasing
that growth still further.
Technology and research, including environmental technology which you and
I have talked about in the past, Is one important new area for cooperation
between us. Education will be another: the finalsatlon of your new
Education Act will broaden the range of our cooperation enabling the
establishment of twinning arrangements between Australian and Malaysian
Institutions, and the opening of Australian campuses In Malaysia. Of course,
as I have said before, I sincerely hope that even with these changes students
from each country will still have the opportunity to live and study In the other.
As Malaysia prepares for the Commonwealth Games In 1998 we are preparing
for the Olympic Games two years later. The conjunction obviously creates the
potential for cooperation on matters relating to sport by which I mean
everything from youth development to building infrastructure.
For these and many other reasons, I believe the last few years of this century
hold out the chance to deepen and expand the relationship between our two
countries. In addition, we can continue to work together in a multilateral environment: in
APEC and in the development of links between AFTA and the
Australian/ New Zealand Closer Economic Relations agreement.
We have common views about the world. We agree that the end of the
Cold War creates a unique opportunity to address the threat of nuclear
weapons. We welcomed the signature of the South East Asia Nuclear
Weapons Free Zone treaty at the ASEAN Summit last-December. And next
week we will welcome Datuk Ronald McCoy from Malaysia when he joins a
group of outstanding international statesmen, scientists and military strategists
In the Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons.
Prime Minister, we have great Interests In common and we share great
opportunities commercial opportunities, opportunities In science and
technology, education, tourism and much else. Above all, * we have the
opportunity to create a new level of mutual understanding between--the peoples
of Australia a id Malaysia, and to forge a rich and rewarding friendship which
will endure ihitb the 21st century.
Prime Minister, I believe you will agree with me when I say that these are
opportunities we cannot afford to let pass.
I thank you once again for the honour of this visit and this dinner, the. warm
welcome and the gracious hospitality you have extended to me,. my wife and
my party.