Mahathir sees bigger role for India in Asia

By Amit Baruah

PUTRAJAYA (MALAYSIA), MAY 14. The Malaysian Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, today said he was happy India had given a ``public commitment'' to become a legal party to a nuclear-free zone in South-East Asia.

Describing India's decision to abide by this Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreement as a new dimension in intra- regional cooperation, Dr. Mahathir said: ``We are also optimistic that India, together with Malaysia... could play a positive role in checking the spread of nuclear proliferation and demonstrating commitment to the goals of nuclear disarmament and the elimination of weapons of mass destruction.''

Addressing a dinner in honour of the visiting Prime Minister, Mr. A. B. Vajpayee, he said India had ``assumed a new awareness and desire to be counted amongst the leading lights of Asia. ``This is a legitimate aspiration for a country that is statistically regarded as one of the 10 fastest growing economies today. We trust and hope India will stay committed to the process of peaceful negotiations in the settlement of conflict of interests in the region,'' he said.

Dr. Mahathir said Mr. Vajpayee's visit would not only strengthen relations with Malaysia, but the ASEAN as a whole. ``The absence of conflict between ASEAN member-states and India and the common perceptions on various issues relating to regional peace and stability have facilitated cooperation at various international fora.

In less than a decade, India has gained acceptance into the dialogue process of ASEAN and the ASEAN Regional Forum. Through the ARF process, we have become more aware of each other's strategic concerns and more conversant with the dynamics and realities of the politico-security environment,'' he said.

Dr. Mahathir said globalisation was a subject of interest to both countries. ``The impact of globalisation is not confined to the economic sphere. The political structure and social matrix of a state is neither isolated nor immune from the effects of globalisation.... it is most unfortunate.... that developing countries are not able to share the benefits of globalisation in a fair and equitable manner.... Malaysia also looks forward to working closely with India in meeting the challenges of globalisation.''

In his speech, Mr. Vajpayee, said India attached the highest importance to its well-established association with the ASEAN, through its dialogue partnership and through its participation in the ARF. ``India particularly values Malaysia's role as the coordinator country for India and looks to it for guidance in evolving our future plans for ASEAN. It is in our mutual and regional interest to carry forward India's association with ASEAN to higher levels,'' he said.

India admired the repaid growth of the Malaysian economy under challenging conditions. ``We are also struck by its tremendous resilence, as shown by the speedy recovery from the recent Southeast Asian financial crisis.''

``India seeks to build a stronger structure on the foundations of this long friendship, based on enhanced people-to-people interaction in every field, and on substantially strengthened economic management in both old and new areas. We should try to maximise the synergy between India's software proficiency and Malaysia's impressive manufacturing strengths in hardware,'' Mr. Vajpayee said.

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