The Editor
Malaysiakini

Dear Sir,

Allow me to respond to the letter by Devaraj (Malaysiakini, 12th May), which called upon Malaysia to emulate Cuba, although many have already given their reactions.

Firstly, as been pointed by others already, Cuba has shown great success, despite its limited financial resources, to establish what is widely recognised as one of the best health, education and housing programmes in the world, especially for the poor. On the other hand, in Malaysia, thanks to Dr Mahathir, the government has been wasting away our abundant resources on unproductive mega-projects. We would not now be facing shortages of low cost houses, university places and hospital beds, had we spent the wasted billions on high quality but reasonably cheap education, health and housing schenmes, rather than on such uneconomic projects like Putrajaya (including Mahathir’s palace), KLIA (which is being deserted by major airlines), Bakun (which has resulted in exploitation of Orang Asal) and many more.

Secondly, Devaraj gave the impression that Mahathir has nothing to do with the defence arrangements that exist in this country. Quite rightly, he pointed out that the Five Nation Defence Arrangement (FNDA), with Britain and Australia, among others, is the product of colonial rule. But what has Mahathir done about it until now? Instead, he has further enhanced our dependence on the superpower for defence when, as Prime Minister, he signed a Defence Agreement with Casper Weinberger, then US Secretary for Defence, in April 1984. When a question was asked about this US-Malaysia Defence Agreement in Parliament a few years ago, Datuk Najib Razak, Malaysia Defence Minister then, said the agreement was only for providing service to US ships at Malaysian ports. He declined to give details on the full content of the agreement. But it well-known that on the basis of the same agreement, joint US-Malaysia military exercises have been held on regular basis, and that US military personnel are allowed to be stationed in Malaysia, under different guises.

Thirdly, on 19/2/2000, on behalf of the PRM Youth, I issued a statement protesting against the presence of USS John Steins, which was then berthed in the North Port, because it carried nuclear weapons. I am informed that on the basis of the same 1984 agreement, US warships are free to ply the Straits of Melaka and to enter Malaysian ports, even if they carry nuclear weapons. As I pointed out in that statement, this was a desecration of the concept of Zone of Peace, Freedom and Neutrality (ZOPFAM), agreed to by several Southeast Asian states, and supposedly upheld by Malaysia until now. Prior to this and also since then, there have been several visits by the US navy, whose warships, believed to carry nuclear weapons, were berthed in our ports. Could Devaraj comment on Mahathir’s real role here?

Muhammad Ali
PRM Youth