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Mr. President,
I congratulate you most warmly, on convening
this forum and I am very pleased to add my own
greetings and best wishes to all our colleagues.
In many ways, your letter of invitation came as
no surprise. We all have enormous admiration for
the way you have brought all your people
together as a driving force for progress in our
region. This is especially so in the way you
have so often taken the lead in our efforts to
meet modern challenges successfully.
In the last few years, these have ranged from
international security and cultural and
religious tolerance to economic development and
the effects of natural disasters. Every effort
we have made as a region has had not only your
support but also your initiative and dedication.
This kind of leadership is special, Mr.
President.
It does not involve prescribing solutions to
others. It seeks to bring others together - to
share experiences; to suggest ways forward; and
to promote the peace and understanding that
comes from working together towards common
objectives.
So, it is a privilege to join you here and I
thank you very much indeed for the personal
invitation.
Mr. President,
Your letter inviting us opened by describing “a
world beset by an array of crises”. I obviously
have no problem with this basic description. I
do not think any of us have or there would not
be any need for this forum.
I would, however, like to suggest that the words
require a context. I say this because there has
never been a time when the world was not beset
by an “array of crises”. In Brunei, our system
of government has lived through seven hundred
years of these, almost non-stop!
In fact, as we all know, crisis is why
government exists. That is why I believe we need
to determine the context in which we are
currently working as governments.
I do not see it as pessimistic. In some ways, a
case could be made for there being far fewer
crises now than Mankind
has ever experienced. Any brief survey of
historical statistics in health, education, life
expectancy, and material
prosperity would provide plenty of reasons to
say that Mankind has done remarkably well so
far.
In other words, I mean that the current crises
may be new in character but, in many ways, they
are the result of the
success the world has had in solving earlier
crises. The most dramatic result of this has
been the quadrupling of the
world’s population over the past one hundred
years.
That fact and the current food and energy
problems, the man-made aspects of climate change
and the present financial crisis would seem to
fit into that pattern of human development. They
are its logical extension.
So, as such, they are only crises in the extent
to which we are unable to deal with them. This,
I believe, is the positive context in which they
have to be placed. There are, rightly, many
cries of alarm. Their warnings are necessary and
have to be heeded and evaluated.
This, however, does not mean that governments
should be alarmist. As I said, we exist to deal
with crisis. Therefore, we have to be positive
and I see your initiative here, Mr. President,
as a most welcome call to us all to be exactly
that.
To me, that says one thing about our current
problems. Globalization is not their cause. It
is their solution. It provides
chances like this for us to meet, discuss and
devise ways of working together to meet the
latest new challenges 3 successfully and to do
this as governments.
Mr. President,
We meet many different systems of government and
they go by many different names. There is,
however, one idea that links us all, I feel.
This is what has always defined our system in
Brunei. It is complex and closely bound up in
its own very old history but, in English, it can
be defined as a “Social Contract”.
Like all contracts in any system, if it is
maintained, we all succeed. If it lapses, we all
suffer. In that sense, I believe we join all
other governments here in our belief in the term
frequently used in international affairs and at
the United Nations - good governance.
Perhaps, above all else right now, this means
ensuring that we all meet the targets set in the
Millennium Goals. In Brunei, we place a priority
on this task. We see it as crucial in our
efforts as a government to fulfil our prime
responsibility to give our people confidence in
the future.
For us, this means providing maximum health care
to all; good education from early childhood
onwards; easy personal
access to government and its departments and
agencies; the rule of law applying equally to
everyone and respect for
each individual, each family and each community,
whatever their background, culture or faith.
At the same time, it means economic development
in the form of employment, jobs, careers and
future prospects.
All these are what we are trying to achieve in
Brunei through our thirty year national vision,
or “wawasan”, and its related projects and
programmes.
The starting point, we believe, is the
Millennium Goals. The end result, we hope, will
be a strong regional and world view on the part
of our people, one which promotes respect and
understanding for every other country and
government.
That is the basis on which we seek to play our
part in the affairs of our region and the
international organisations to which we belong.
It is on that basis, also, that I am delighted
to accept your kind invitation here.
I assure you again that my government and people
join me in a commitment to working as closely as
possible with the
governments attending this forum.
We will offer whatever we can to help address
the concerns that we all share and make sure
that our region and our part of the world can
look forward to the future in peace, security
and confidence.
Thank you
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