Kuala Lumpur - Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad on Tuesday lashed out yet again on Western countries which "rob" developing nations of their intellectual human resources without paying compensation to the home countries. Mahathir, who is a firm and outspoken critic of the West, said rich countries ought to pay developing nations for the "brain drain" of trained doctors and scientists who decide to work in developed countries.
An example of injustice practise by the West was the high cost of medication for the AIDS disease due to the years of research into the drugs, he told reporters at an international forum in northern Langkawi island.
"But who does the research? It could be doctors and researchers originating from poor nations, who are given jobs by these rich countries or rich pharmaceutical companies.
"They don't pay the poor nation which educated the particular doctor," Mahathir was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency.
Developing and poor nations needed to unite and "concentrate on intellectual property in the true sense, because it is their intelligence that is being tapped," Mahathir said.
"Poor countries have to speak up all the time, to say that you (referring to developed countries) are taking away the best brains in our country without compensating us in any way."
Although Mahathir, 81, stepped down as premier in October 2003 after 22 years in power, he has remained an active and vocal observer in local and international politics.
