Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad Saturday attacked the IMF for its one remedy approach to the Asian financial crisis and accused it of stunting regional recovery.
Mahathir slammed attempts by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to "force down the throats of all the East Asian nations their single formula for recovery" from the 1997 crisis in an address to the New York-based Asia Society.
While there was "no conspiracy" behind the crisis, by "dangling the loan carrot and brandishing the big stick" the harsh demands of the IMF succeeded in putting to an end "practices which had contributed to the spectacular growth of Asian nations," he said.
"Anything that could be imposed or done to prevent the quick recovery and regeneration of the Asian tigers was done, at times blatantly," said Mahathir, a regular critic of the West.
"Asia today is in total disarray" as a result of these actions, he said.
The premier was particularly scathing on the IMF's insistence that "no government help be extended" and that instead corporations should be allowed to slide into bankruptcy and unemployed workers allowed to "starve, rot and kill."
Mahathir defended measures used to instigate Malaysia's economic recovery and called on other Asian nations to similarly resist attempts to impose Western values on them.
Asian nations should take pride in their "ways of managing their countries and their problems," he said, adding that "attempts by the West to force their values and ideologies on Asians must be resisted."
He blamed currency dealers for "destroying the (Malaysian) economy" and defended his introduction of a policy of locking in foreign investments for a 12-month period to stem fund outflow at the height of the financial crisis in September 1998.
"They said it would collapse the economy but Malaysia is recovering very well," he said.
The Malaysian budget on Friday abolished a 10 percent exit levy on profits repatriated after one year, which replaced the policy of locking in foreign funds.
Mahathir also pledged to maintain Malaysia's fixed exchange rate policy unless neighboring countries devalued or revalued their currencies by 20 percent, which could affect Malaysia's competitiveness.
Asian ways of doing things are not bad simply because they differ from the West, he said.
The premier urged Southeast Asian countries to cooperate, possibly in the form of "an economic group or an East Asian monetary fund."
"Southeast Asia can recover faster and more strongly if it is less preoccupied with gaining the approval of the West in the way it manages things politically and economically," he said.
Mahathir will lead a 43-member delegation of senior government officials for a two-day visit to Brunei on Sunday for his fourth annual consultations with Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah – HONG KONG (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
