The injunction against changes of religion among Muslims, laws which differ from their laws will be questioned by them. Their media will be used to denigrate all that we practise. The NGOs will be subverted in order to demand reviews of whatever is not liked by the Europeans, to amend and finally to reject what is considered as denying the rights of the individual.

The culture and the values which they will force us to accept will be hedonism, unlimited quest for pleasure, the satisfaction of base desires, particularly sexual desires. Our way of life must be the same as their way of life. Asian values do not exist for them.

Our economic system must follow the free market system conceived by them. Governments cannot be involved or have rules and regulations in order to help the weak. The problem of balancing the development between the races is not the responsibility of the free market. The free market is about the big, the strong, the capital rich taking all for themselves.

Nationals of a country cannot be given special treatment. Foreign companies must be free to enter any country to compete with local businesses and banks. The likelihood is that their giant corporations would swallow up the small local businesses, and we will become paid workers under them. Everything is said to depend upon merit and not the unequal and unjust competition with their big and experienced corporations. The result is that they will control every country's economy completely.

If anyone rejects the free market system proposed by the WTO, they will be subjected to punitive action intended to destroy their economy. Through the WTO the Europeans have introduced rule-based trading, that is, all trade within and outside the country must be subjected to the WTO rules invented by them. Whichever country fails to follow these rules will be subjected to various actions, such as sanctions etc. in order to destroy the country's economy.

When the Cold War between the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc was still on, the world was able to recover. The 60s, 70s and 80s saw remarkable progress in the economy of the world.

Relatively speaking the world at that time was peaceful and free from threats. With that the habit of traveling grew and flying as well as the manufacture of jet aircraft contributed to the economies of many countries in the world.

Millions of tourists and business travelers flooded the airports throughout the world forcing their expansion and increases in numbers yearly. Passenger jets which are bigger and able to fly further were developed and hundreds were produced and sold by companies like Boeing, Lockheed and Airbus. Luxury hotels were built worldwide, creating numerous jobs for people including those from the developing countries.

The development of the microchip, i.e. tiny electric circuits, revolutionised manufacturing. The microchip enables calculations to be speeded up by thousands of time and made possible the invention of the computer, and its use not only in calculating but in transmitting information by voice, in writing and through pictures to every corner of the world.

The demand for the microchips grew fast and plants to produce them were built everywhere, including in developing countries like Malaysia. The increasing wealth of some countries caused the demand for manufactured goods including motor vehicles to shoot up and many countries which switched from agriculture to manufacturing developed fast.

Malaysia achieved high growth with GDP above 8% continuously for 10 years. There seems to be nothing to prevent Malaysia from becoming a developed country by 2020.

Our policy is to prosper our neighbours. This is not just charity or a desire to help. The fact is that when neighbours are prosperous we will also become prosperous because we will be able to increase our trade with them. On the other hand when neighbours are beset with problems, the problems will spill over into our country. Clearly prospering your neighbour is a policy of enlightened self-interest. And this policy has brought a lot of benefit to us, contributing to regional stability and also the growth of the economy.

Truly the world after World War II was very prosperous. But the Europeans tried to improve things by changing the systems and practices of commerce, politics and social norms so as to become better and more fair.

Japan, which was so successful before, has become a victim of these new systems. Until now the Japanese cannot resurrect their ailing economy.

Malaysia, which was growing so well, was attacked by rogue currency traders who claimed that they had a responsibility to discipline governments. The result is that the growth of Malaysia's economy and those of East Asia have been stunted and even reversed. Until now restoration to the former level has not succeeded.

The restoration has become more difficult when the cheatings and commercial crimes in America were exposed. The dot com companies whose shares appreciated for no valid reason collapsed. After that the giant corporations like Enron, World Com, Arthur Anderson and tens of others big and small, were found to have cheated on their accounting.

Hijack became a word on everyone's lips when criminals seized passenger aircraft. The peak in this hijacking came when terrorists seized passenger aircraft and used them as guided missiles to destroy the World Trade Centre in New York. This frightened the tourists and the business travelers so that passenger loads fell below 30% in the US and elsewhere.

This has caused a tremendous decline in the hotel and other industries related to tourism. Nearly all American airlines became bankrupt with losses of hundreds of billions of dollars.

The hunt for the terrorists has made the world tense and unsafe. Bombs explode in many parts of the world. Afghanistan and Iraq were attacked and Syria and Iran were similarly threatened unless they changed their governments.

Thus the prosperity and the peace of 30 years in the world after the end of the Second World War has been brought to an end because of the attempt to improve on what was already working well. With the introduction of new approaches in the development of the economy of the world, with the frenzy to acquire wealth, with the disregard for the poverty and sufferings of so many in this world, with allowing the seizure of territories here and there, all the progress that had been made before has been destroyed.

Now the possibility of restoring the world's economy to the level of 1997 has become uncertain. It cannot be attained because instead of trying to calm the world, the powers that be are bent on using force in order to achieve their objectives.

In politics all countries are being required to practise liberal democracy. We admit that democracy is the best system of government ever invented by man. But it is not free from defects. For those who do not understand the limits of democracy, the likelihood is that governments which are weak, or corrupt will rule. At times anarchy will result from practising liberal democracy.

Democracy depends on popular support. This support can be obtained because the candidate or the party is skilled at governing and developing the country. But popular support can also be obtained because of racialism, because of deliberate misinterpretation of religion, or through bribing the voters.

At the same time the voter can also make use of racialism, religious injunctions, or demand for bribes for self or group. With this the winner which forms the government will not be the qualified and able, but will be those with thick racialism, or those who misinterpret religion or those who are corrupt. Government by such people will ruin the country, while the able and clean party will lose.

Maybe the intention of the Europeans to force the acceptance of democracy is good and they do not plan to damage the developing countries deliberately. They probably believe that democracy will help the developing countries the way it helped their own countries. But they forget the long period of time they took to understand and get benefits from this system.

The struggle for power in a newly democratic developing country has caused hundreds of parties to be formed. A strong government cannot possibly be formed if the electorate is divided by hundreds of parties. There will not be a party which will get enough representatives to form a strong government.

We in Malaysia have succeeded in practising democracy. But the Europeans are not happy. They wish to see frequent changes of government so that there will be no stability and development cannot take place. Their new slogan is "Regime Change". Because this has not happened and our country remains peaceful and successful they accuse us of being undemocratic and dictatorial.

Who are they to accuse our government as dictatorial? Aren't they the former colonialists whose rule was dictatorial and oppressive and have they not just invaded a weak country, killing many civilians in order to gain power over that country? Is their way of achieving Regime Change democratic? Look first in the mirror. The problem with the Europeans is that they award themselves the right to be the judge over their own views.

But their criticism may have a hidden agenda. Because we are not democratic, then interference by them in our domestic affairs would be justified. There will be many people in this country who will be influenced by their views and condemn the Government. The result will be instability for the country and it will not be able to develop and the people will suffer.

They will condemn this accusation. Saying, they have no ill intentions, no conspiracy to obstruct anyone's progress. They merely criticise. But we must not forget that their criticisms, even if baseless, have been used to justify their attack and occupation of a country.

The first person to talk of a Regime Change is Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister of Israel. Arafat has to be replaced by a leader acceptable to them. Today the Europeans talk of the need to have Regime Change in many countries. Do not think that we will not be targeted.

This is the external environment which we face now and will face in the future. Allah be Praised until now we have succeeded in defending our freedom and our independence. This is because we are careful and able to avoid falling into the trap set by them.

Faced with these challenges what preparations must we make? I have mentioned the role of Islam in the life of the Malays. There is no influence greater than Islam in building the strength and the resistance of the Malays.

But the important thing is that we cling to the true teachings of Islam, the teachings which are all positive and constructive, the teachings which had given success to our Prophet Muhammad s.a.w., the teachings which had given great success to the early Muslims so much so that they were able to enlarge the Muslim territories to include almost the whole world and to maintain it for 1,300 years.

If we study closely we will find that the teachings of Islam stress good and honourable values. We are asked to read "Iqra" i.e. to seek knowledge. We are exhorted to be brothers in Islam, including in the party, outside the party, outside the country.

We are told to keep our promises and undertakings. We are asked to work hard, to acquire all kinds of skills which can help upgrade our defence and many more which are positive and constructive. We are also enjoined to reject what is bad and negative.

If we stick to all these good values and practise them, and we refer to them when faced with challenges, God Willing, we will succeed.

Islam will not disappoint us. Allah has not ordained that the fate of the Muslims will always be bad. The Qur'an has testified that Allah will not change the fortunes of any group unless that group strives to change its fortune itself. Allah has also clarified that all misfortunes are our own doing and only good fortunes come from Him.

And so it is not possible that our ill fortune at present is all from Allah. It comes from Muslims who only know how to appeal and pray for help but never try seriously to save and improve our fortunes. If we purposely chose to live at the foot of a volcano, do not blame Allah or regard it as preordained when the volcano erupts, bringing down our house on the top of our heads and we die.

Allah be Praised, for having given His insignificant slave this opportunity. I pray to Him to protect my race from the bad qualities and make them a people who are successful and honoured, who submit fully to all that our holy religion has taught us, to make them work hard, that May you protect and bring success to our people in order for us to become the model to the Muslim ummah, the people who submit to all your injunctions, Oh Allah, Amin.

With this prayer, with a heavy heart, yet with happiness, I declare officially open the 54th General Assembly of Umno.