UN General Assembly
1966

128. My country achieved its independence barely nine years ago. Since then we have devoted our energy and resources to development, but this process has been somewhat retarded because of the unhappy episode with Indonesia, With the return of peace to Malaysia we can now redirect our resources and redouble our efforts in the field of economic development and towards giving our people a fuller measure of happiness and prosperity. 129. It is also a cardinal principle in the policy of my country to promote and achieve on a regional basis co-operation in trade, economic and cultural matters. We firmly believe that regional co-operation is the logical starting point and indeed the basis for international co-operation on a wider global basis. It is desirable that States in particular geographical regions should get together on a co-operative basis to solve problems which, by their very nature, are common to them. It is, for example, obvious that one can more easily discover a common denominator and a common basis for action among States within a particular region, such as South-East Asia, than