KUALA LUMPUR: The Islamic world is well poised to become a formidable force similar to the European Union (EU) if all Muslim nations can enhance cooperation and establish a strong marketing network among themselves.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said there was huge potential for the Muslim market given the 1.7 billion Muslim population worldwide.
However, Dr Mahathir said Muslim countries could only become a strong union if the countries were self-sufficient and self-dependent without relying on supply of goods from Western powers.
“If we decide to source our needs from Muslims (entrepreneurs) and Muslims countries, then we will enrich ourselves.
“However, because we have not enough products (produced) by ourselves, we have to source most of our needs from other counties.
“This has resulted in our money flowing out, which would subsequently cause us to become poorer,” said Dr Mahathir in a roundtable discussion titled: “Priority of Development and the Challenges” held in conjunction with the Kuala Lumpur Summit 2109 (KL Summit) here today.
He was responding to a question from a participant from Istanbul, who asked if there was an initiative among Muslim countries in the works to form a union similar to the EU.
Moderated by KL Summit secretary-general Datuk Seri Dr Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri, other speakers at the session included Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Iranian counterpart, Dr Hassan Rouhani.
Dr Mahathir said such a move should not be viewed as Muslim nations imposing a boycott on non-Muslim countries.
“When you source or sell things to non-Muslims countries, sometimes they apply sanctions.
“When they apply sanctions, you will lose what you need and you become helpless.
“This would result in more pressure (on Muslim nations).
“The situation is different if we do not need their products regardless if there is or there is no sanction imposed on us,” said Dr Mahathir, who is also the KL Summit chairman.
Muslim countries, he said, could emulate China which largely depended on its own products and also exported them to other countries.
To another question, Dr Mahathir said it was important for Muslim nations to develop good economies.
“Once you are strong in the economic field, then we would become more independent.
“If we are dependent on everything from other countries in the West, we will be always dependent and not independent.
“And in order to be independent, we should also resist the influence of the foreign countries which want to see us fighting against each other to derail the unity amongst us.”
Earlier in his opening remarks, Dr Mahathir said the biggest challenge the government faced while drawing up development plans and strategies was dealing with the disruption caused by technological advancement.
The rapid pace of such technological advancements, he said, threatened to make obsolete some of the strategies and plans charted today within a few years.
“Today, we are witnessing almost daily how some cutting-edge technology and advanced economic ventures, which are merely a few years old, have made certain things inconsequential.
“This has also led to some segments of our workforce being made irrelevant.
“In that context, our challenge becomes two-pronged – firstly, to come up with development strategies and secondly, to make sure they are continuously upgraded so as not to be irrelevant when new technologies emerge.”
Meanwhile, in his final remarks, Dr Hassan called on Muslim leaders and nations to remove and overcome differences amongst themselves as promoted by the Quran.
“Many meetings are being convened across the Muslim world and we do not expect to resolve all of our problems in a single meeting.
“On these meetings, however, we pay more attention to our problems and think about finding solution to this problem.
“We should also avoid standing against each other.
“And, I believe this could happen with the wisdom of our younger generations.”
KEYWORDS: KL Summit 2019, Mahathir Mohamad, Islamic world, European Union, EU, Muslim nations, Western powers, Dr Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri, Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Iranian, Dr Hassan Rouhani, China, technology