Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Masing
KUCHING: The 16th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) held at Putrajaya, which ended last night, exposed the superiority complex of the presenters who were mostly from developed countries.
According to Land Development Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Masing, the reason why First World nations like to patronise Third World countries were due to our own people’s faults as they allowed, and even encouraged, them to do so. Moreover, Third World leaders also thought they were inferior to First World leaders, he added.
“In the past I admired former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad because he refused to be bullied by outsiders, especially from First World leaders. He fought back. But now he seems to be in cahoots with these bullies. Why? I don’t know. So I have lost my admiration for him,” Masing, who is also PRS president, told The Borneo Post through WhatsApp from Singapore yesterday.
He, however, admired Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem who had managed to present the case of Sarawak to the world and even took questions from some of the fiercest critics of the state, including Global Witness and some local non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
“I have read the report and I have seen the chief minister’s interview. Excellent! We need to use our intellect to present our cause to the world. “The quality of our presentation is a must when arguing our case with the First World nations. They don’t care who you are. They respect what you know,” he said. Masing, who obtained his PhD from Australian National University, Canberra in 1982, said it was vital for leaders to pursue knowledge in order to be on par with other leaders of the world.
“I studied in one of their best institutions and passed like the rest of them. I know who they are. I know what their ancestors did to their countries. They have cut their forest. They pollute the atmosphere to enrich themselves.
“Now they want us to keep our forest so that our trees can suck the carbon dioxide they produce via their industries and in return, give out oxygen so that the First Nations’ people can breathe clean air. In short, they want the Third World forest to be the ‘Carbon Sink’ of the world,” he pointed out.
Masing also emphasised that developing countries must tell developed countries that they too protected their environment the way they wanted; not because they were told to do it.
“We must tell them to stop or reduce polluting the world. We will manage the utilisation of our resources in sustainable manners.”
Masing said most of the speakers at the 16th IACC were from developed countries, except for Adenan, and they started to preach here when they were given the chance.
“They take the pulpit’s view on Third World’s deeds or misdeeds; as if they are free of all these things! First World people are no angels; nor are we devils incarnate on corruption.
“I don’t like being preached by First World (people) on matters which they are equally guilty. At least Malaysia is honest enough to provide them the avenue to discuss matters of importance,” added Masing.
The three-day convention, themed ‘Ending Impunity’, was jointly run by the Malaysian government, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), IACC, Transparency International and Transparency International Malaysia.More than 1,000 participants from over 100 countries took part in the convention.