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Message: <blockquote data-quote="OSFlanker" data-source="post: 185812" data-attributes="member: 12">From  <a href="http://www.theedgedaily.com" target="_blank">www.theedgedaily.com</a> :Dr M accepts Soros' explanation over financial crisis <img src="http://www.theedgedaily.com/cms/storage/images/com.tms.cms.image.Image_85d10763-cb73c03a-d647d800-3124811f/1/DrM_Inside.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has accepted George Soros’ explanation that the currency speculator was not personally involved in the speculative activities that triggered the Asian financial crisis in 1997/98.  The former prime minister said he had accepted the explanation given by Soros, whom he had once blamed for triggering the crisis that overwhelmed most of the Southeast Asia and South Korea economies.  At a press conference scheduled after the meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Dec 15, Dr Mahathir said his perception of the billionaire had changed as it was then based on news reports while he had not personally met him.  “That’s why I am talking with him (Soros),” he added. Soros had arrived in Malaysia to promote his book, “The Age of Fallibility” and would speak at the London School of Economics fund raising (ed) dinner.During their 90-minute meeting, they discussed their concerns about global problems, especially on US policies in Iraq and Palestine.  Dr Mahathir also said he has many Jewish friends who do not regard him as anti-Semitic. However, he was concerned about what was happening in Palestine.  “I was somehow labelled as anti-Semitic. I’d like to explain that whenever I make criticisms, I don’t make criticisms against the Jews. They are also criticisms against Muslims,” he added.  Soros said he wanted to meet with Dr Mahathir as the latter was interested in promoting world peace in the world and there had been correspondences between them. “I felt the idea of getting people to renounce war is not enough and we agree on that. We are both very concern about the future of our civilisation,” Soros said. Dr Mahathir said he and Soros agreed on matters pertaining to the Palestinian issue and they were both against the US taking unilateral military actions.  However, Dr Mahathir said he was still concerned that currency speculations could destroy many countries. “I am still against it. I don’t think we need such activities to make corrections in the economy,” he said.  The ringgit was pegged to the US dollar at RM3.8 in September 1998 and it was unshackled in June last year. The ringgit was quoted at RM3.5490 at 5pm on Dec 15.Soros, when asked for his opinion on Dr Mahathir’s economic policy, replied the Malaysian financial authority made a mistake of maintaining the currency peg for too long, which led too much financial distress.  Nevertheless, Soros said the currency control had reduced the impact of the crisis on Malaysia.  He said it was the financial authorities that should be responsible for maintaining the stability of their respective currency.  “That responsibility doesn’t belong to the speculators but to the authorities, because the authorities should decide have the market should function, whether it should be capital control, under what condition and so on,” he said.  “I, as a speculator, act according to the prevailing rules. Knowing the market, I believe, now, sometimes it’s appropriate to impose some restriction on capital flows,” he added.</blockquote>

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