I congratulate Dr Mahathir Mohamad for inviting President of Socialist Cuba Fidel Castro to visit Malaysia. The timing cannot be more appropriate because like Cuba and China, Malaysia is facing the neo-imperialist threats in the guises of 'globalisation', 'Information Revolution', 'futurism', 'global village' and what not.

Local bourgeoisie and petit-bourgeoisie opinion-makers are also dancing to the tune of the imperialist propaganda. In this regard, I salute Mahathir for his determination to fight all the their vested interests in this country and the region. We should all learn from Mahathir and Fidel Castro.

It is time for Mahathir and the government to seriously consider terminating Malaysia's membership in the Anglo-Saxon military pact, namely the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) which has compromised our national integrity and neutrality in regional and world affairs. How can Malaysia claim to be neutral and non-aligned when we are still a member of that Cold War alliance?

However, we must understand that it was not Mahathir who decided for Malaysia to join that Anglo-Saxon military alliance. It was the reactionary Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj who was a stooge of British imperialism and neo-colonialism.

Mahathir did in fact consider to withdraw from the pact in 1998 but the conservative and reactionary forces in the establishment and government was so strong that he had to make a tactical retreat.

With the elimination of Anwar Ibrahim and his groups from the government and bureaucracy, there is no longer resistance. It is time to resume our anti-imperialist offensive, given Cuba's moral support and the backing of a strong China as our neighbour.

If Cuba alone could defeat and frustrate imperialist designs and conspiracies like the Bay of Pigs invasion, why can't Malaysia be independent militarily?

Why should Malaysia become a client state of the Anglo-Saxon powers and their stooge, namely Singapore under the ruling People's Action Party and senior minister Lee Kuan Yew? Malaysia tak boleh-ke (can't triumph, is it)?

To emulate Cuba's genuine non-aligned foreign policy, Malaysia should also bar any foreign warships, be it US, Australia, Britain, Canada or New Zealand to park at our sovereign ports or to travel through our territorial water like the Straits of Malacca.

Economically too, we should emulate Cuba. For Cuba has never obtained a cent of foreign aid to survive the imperialist encirclement and yet able to prosper with socialist justice and equity. There is no poverty, unemployment, religious superstition, ignorance and inflation in Cuba. Women are respected and children are well taken care of.

But look at the so-called free markets in the United States, Britain, Australia, Singapore, Thailand, South Korea and Japan, prostitutes are everywhere and moral decline are evidently widespread. AIDS, drug addicts, homeless women and children, starving elderly citizens and unemployed youths are considered 'normal'.

And Cuba's economy has never had currency speculation and it still holds its head high in this age of so-called 'globalisation'. It has proven that human society does not need unproductive circulation of money which is only meant to be medium of exchange.

Although Cuba is a multiethnic country, it does not have racial problem under socialism because all speak one language and are loyal to one party. There is also no religious fanaticism in Cuba because under the secular and scientific leadership of the Communist Party and Fidel Castro, the Catholic Church is subdued and confined to only providing spiritual service to the older generation of citizens who were too illiterate to appreciate science, technology and modernity. As Karl Marx once said, religion is the opium of the people.

Let us learn from Cuba and learn fast because time is running out. The war-mongering Bush regime in US is intensifying its grand design to make Asia-Pacific an American Lake, and the countries in the region logistic centres in order to contain and roll back the mighty China and the socialism it and Cuba represent and symbolise.

It is time for Mahathir and Castro to work even closer and to strength our relationship with China.

Long live Malaysia-Cuba friendship! Long live Third World! Down with Anglo-Saxon imperialism!