I would like to take this
opportunity to congratulate you, Sir, on your election
as President of the General Assembly at its sixty-sixth
session. I have no doubt that, under your able
leadership, the Assembly will be able to complete its
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deliberations and proceedings successfully. In that
respect, I wish to assure you of Malaysia’s full support
for your presidency. Permit me also to congratulate His
Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon on his reappointment as
Secretary-General.
The theme you have chosen for the general
debate, “The role of mediation in the settlement of
disputes by peaceful means”, is apt, fitting and timely.
Indeed, the United Nations itself was established as an
instrument of mediation to promote peace, security and
stability among the nations of the world. Many in this
body have spoken about the importance of settling
disputes through mediation. Malaysia shares that view.
In the final analysis, peace can be achieved only
if people are willing to engage in mediation. Now,
more than ever before, mediation must be made to
work in the Middle East crisis, as it is the only option
available for the achievement of lasting peace.
Year after year after year, we have hoped for a
peaceful and just resolution of the Palestinian issue. In
the time that we have spent hoping, we have also come
to realize that mediation is the only means of providing
a sustainable resolution to all conflicts and crises. As
such, all of us have a role to play in ensuring that it is
effective. Patience and prudence have their merits, but
patience and prudence must not result in paralysis. This
body and the Security Council have adopted numerous
resolutions on Palestine, yet there has been no tangible
outcome.
We support the application of the Palestinians to
the United Nations and welcome the readiness of both
parties to hold talks on the basis of the existing
international legal framework. In that connection,
Malaysia fully supports the legitimate rights of the
Palestinian people to an independent State of Palestine,
based on the two-State solution, taking into account the
security concerns of both parties.
For some time now, our world has been battered
by unprecedented political challenges, devastating
national calamities and financial crises. During that
time, our institutions and mechanisms have seemed
incapable of handling these challenges and the pace at
which they surface. To compound the situation, while
we address long-standing causes of international
instability, non-traditional threats to peace and security,
such as terrorism, pose additional challenges.
As we share the grief of those who lost their
loved ones in the 9/11 attack 10 years ago, we must
strengthen our resolve to eradicate terrorism in all its
forms and manifestations. That can be achieved only
by addressing the root causes of terrorism, which
would cut off sympathy and support for those
committing acts of terrorism. We must at the same time
win the hearts and minds of the people to ensure that
our victory over terrorism is not short-lived.
But the winning of hearts and minds is only half
of what I would call the battle of perceptions. The
other half consists of combating expressions of
extremist sentiments. Despite our continuing efforts to
promote world peace and harmony, we still witness the
increasing trend to perpetuate and fuel Islamophobia.
There have been attempts to pit Islam against the West,
demonize Islam and to link Islam with terrorism. Those
irresponsible acts further intensify the divide between
the broader Muslim world and the West.
The real issue is not between Muslims and
non-Muslims but between moderates and extremists in
all religions, whether Islam, Christianity or Judaism. It
is in light of the growing tide of extremist sentiments
around the globe that the Prime Minister of Malaysia
called for the creation of a global movement of
moderates at this Assembly last year (see A/65/PV.19).
This clarion call has come at the right moment in
history. We must ensure that the voices of moderation,
which currently constitute the silent majority, prevail
over those of extremism in efforts to find solutions to
the growing challenges faced by the international
community.
There has been wide acceptance of this
movement at the highest levels of global political
leadership, such as the Asia-Europe Meeting and the
East Asia Summit. More recently, the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations has endorsed the movement of
moderates as its contribution to global developments.
Malaysia will work diligently to ensure that the global
movement of moderates will complement the ongoing
activities of the United Nations Alliance of
Civilizations and other intercultural and interfaith
dialogues so that moderation will triumph over
extremism.
We cannot turn a blind eye to the needs of States
that are severely affected by natural calamities. The
situation in Somalia has touched the hearts of many.
For our part, Malaysia last month pledged $1 million to
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the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Trust
Fund for Somalia and dispatched a humanitarian
mission to mitigate the sufferings of our Somali
brothers and sisters. A valiant Malaysian son lost his
life carrying out this mission. However, such incidents
will never deter us from continuing to provide
humanitarian assistance to all other countries in need.
In the field of the environment, we seem to be
losing focus. We know that we are not lacking in good
plans, but that we lack political will and the means to
implement those agreed plans. As much as we are
concerned about implementation failures, we are also
concerned at the paralysing differences in on the areas
of institutional framework and sustainable
development. The failure of the Commission on
Sustainable Development to deliver a successful
outcome last May clearly demonstrated that.
The lack of progress and unwillingness to honour
commitments under the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change is another example. We
must ensure that the principle of common but
differentiated responsibilities, coupled with historical
responsibility, is enshrined in all our endeavours to
achieve a successful conclusion on climate change
negotiations and sustainable development.
In moving towards the United Nations
Conference on Sustainable Development, there are new
thoughts on strengthening the institutional frameworks
for the environment. If the current institutional
frameworks are unable to meet the daunting
environmental challenges, we may have to look at new
mechanisms that are inclusive and participatory, with
equitable decision-making responsibilities.
Nuclear disarmament occupies a central role in
the work of the United Nations. This is reflected by the
fact that the very first resolution adopted by the
General Assembly spoke, among other things, of “the
elimination from national armaments of atomic
weapons and of all other major weapons adaptable to
mass destruction” (resolution 1(I), para. 5 (c)). Yet
65 years on, it remains a silent dream. All States need
to do their part in order to achieve more substantive
progress in this area.
Malaysia is committed to working with other
Member States to realize the goal of a nuclear-weapon-
free world. We will continue to advocate the total
elimination of nuclear weapons through a nuclear
weapons convention. To progress further on that issue,
consensus is required on commencing the multilateral
negotiations process. This, in turn, will require good
faith on the part of the States possessing nuclear
weapons. I call on all those States to demonstrate such
good faith.
It is apparent that the current international
financial architecture is unable to cope with recent
developments in the world financial markets. The
World Bank has warned that we are about to enter a
danger zone. We need a new financial architecture that
will be transparent, equitable, representational and
participatory and that will reduce volatility. Lessons
can be learned from the economies of developing
countries that embarked on economic reform and
strengthened their financial institutions following the
Asian financial crisis. Let us put pride aside and learn
from each other.
In our quest to move up the value chain and
enhance competitiveness, Malaysia has embarked on
its own transformation programmes based on the
concept of One Malaysia, the Government transformation
programme, the economic transformation programme
and the new economic model. As part of the
transformation programme, Malaysia has taken a giant
leap in reforming its internal security and emergency
laws, which will be replaced by legislation to prevent
subversive action, terrorism and organized crime.
Malaysia is transforming and reforming itself to
better adapt to a changing global landscape. We believe
that the United Nations must do the same. We would
like to see a comprehensive reform of the United
Nations so that it will be able to face current realities
and address present challenges. Most particularly, the
Security Council should be comprehensively reformed
to make it more legitimate, representative, democratic
and transparent. The Council must be effective,
transparent and accountable to the larger United
Nations membership in order to strengthen its
mediation capacities. It must not remain beholden to
the veto holders.
In that respect, I return to the President’s theme.
We need to adopt mediation in the search for peace. To
that, I would add the principles of transformation and
moderation. A combination of mediation, transformation
and moderation will constitute a winning formula to
realize lasting world peace. Let us take up the
challenge with the fortitude required and together
implement it for a united and a better world for all.