Since the 1990's international attention has focused on issues surrounding the logging of the rain forest and its effect on the lives of indigenous communities. Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad became the spokesperson for the developing countries against those of the industrialized North. He has led demands for a withdrawal of international criticism of such issues as logging in developing nations, appealed to the countries of the north to stop their "imperialist agendas," and called on the industrialized countries to adjust their own consumption and production patterns to avoid environmental pollution.
During the escalating economic growth of the 1990's Malaysia became a desirable destination for illegal immigrants from nearby countries, especially the Philippines, Indonesia, and Bangladesh. It appears that the treatment of illegal immigrants, both by their employers and the government, might become a future source of friction between Malaysia and immigrants' countries of origin. For example, in 1996 Malaysian and Indonesian authorities agreed on joint measures to limit the flow of illegal workers into Malaysia. In addition, relations with Thailand were strained in early 1996 by Malaysia's construction of a wall along its border with Thailand to curb the arrival of illegal immigrants.
Relations between Malaysia and Singapore were peaceful but often troubled after the 1965 break between the two. In March, 1997, Singapore senior minister Lee Kuan Yew provoked widespread anger in Malaysia when he described the Malaysian state across the causeway from Singapore as rife with crime. The following year, tensions between Malaysia and Singapore rose again after Lee Kuan Yew published a memoir that was critical of prominent figures in Malaysian history, and Singapore refused to allow the Malaysian air force to fly training missions in Singaporean airspace.
World History
