DILI - Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, visiting East Timor today on his penultimate overseas tour before retirement, launched a spirited defence of his decades in power and took a swipe at a few old enemies.

In a speech to the parliament of the newly independent nation, Mahathir took aim at the oil majors, US foreign policy, free trade demands by the West, human rights groups and other NGOs, and the media.

Mahathir, 77, steps down on Oct 31 after 22 years in power during which critics say he has tamed his country's judiciary, royalty and media. He has also imprisoned numerous members of the political opposition without trial.

The subject of his speech was the strengths and limitations of democracy but much of it was devoted to the Malaysian experience.

His country, Mahathir said, was unfazed by what he called politically motivated complaints that it was undemocratic.

Own agenda

Multiracial Malaysia had avoided problems faced by other multiracial countries because "Malaysians understand the weaknesses and limits of democracy and we do not exceed those limits".

In an apparent reference to the draconian Internal Security Act which allows indefinite detention without trial, Mahathir said preventive laws were needed to inhibit "excesive abuses of democratic freedom.

"The result is that Malaysia can enjoy democracy without the excesses which encroach on the freedom of the majority."

The Malaysian leader said the "human rights, the environmental, the animal rights groups and a host of other NGOs can all frustrate the government at every turn", despite representing only a small minority.

He added: "The media is elected by no one. But it can, if it wants to, give distorted reports so as to promote its own agenda."

The judiciary, he said, also claimed the right to interpret laws differently from the legislators who passed them.

In the name of democracy

In an apparent reference to the US and British invasion of Iraq, Mahathir said that "the capitalists and the liberal democrats are exhibiting signs of intolerance and authoritarianism. No other systems are allowed now.

"Any attempt to resist will meet with all kinds of pressures, including conquest by force of arms."

Such violence was justified in the name of democracy. "But as we have seen democracy is not always good. It can lead to anarchy and the people can suffer."

Mahathir, however, said democracy "is the best system yet devised by man to govern human society" and could be made to work if its limits were understood. But the well-being of the people should not be sacrificed to sustain it.

Free trade, for example, was only linked by some to democracy to give it legitimacy.

"A country can be democratic and yet control its economy in order to benefit its people, certainly the majority of its people," said Mahathir, who imposed capital controls in 1998 to counter the East Asian financial crisis.

"The idea of free trade comes from the rich and powerful countries which feel frustrated over their inability to exploit fully for themselves the potentials of the poor countries," he told the Timorese parliamentarians.

Malaysia Street

Mahathir hit out at Western agricultural subsidies and the oil majors, which historically "had cheated the poor countries" until Opec's emergence.

The Malaysian leader, who heads a business delegation to East Timor, earlier received a full-scale ceremonial welcome, including a guard of honour, from Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri.

He was scheduled to lay the foundation stone for a "Malaysia Street" in Dili before meeting President Xanana Gusmao.

From East Timor, Mahathir will make a two-day visit - his final overseas tour before his retirement - to Papua New Guinea from Friday. - AFP