First, I wish to
congratulate Ms. Haya Rasheed Al-Khalifa and the
State of Bahrain on her election as the President of the
General Assembly at its sixty-first session. As an
Asian, a Muslim and the current Chairman of the
Summit Conference of the Organization of the Islamic
Conference, I welcome her election with pride and
satisfaction. I am confident that she will be able to
steer the proceedings of the Assembly with
consummate skill and achieve meaningful results.
Needless to say, Malaysia will support her in any way
that we can.
Allow me to also pay tribute to her distinguished
predecessor, Mr. Jan Eliasson, the Foreign Minister of
Sweden, for the exemplary way in which he guided the
proceedings of the Assembly’s sixtieth session, during
some of the most trying times for the United Nations.
Speaking of trying times, I would also like to pay
tribute to Mr. Kofi Annan for his tireless efforts in
serving humanity, not only during his tenure as the
Secretary-General but throughout an entire career
dedicated to the ideals of our Organization.
I must pay a special tribute to the members of the
Secretariat and those serving under the United Nations
banner, in particular those who have made the ultimate
sacrifice of their lives, like the four members of the
United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon who were
killed last July during the height of the Israeli offensive
against Lebanon.
Mr. Mérorès (Haiti), Vice-President, took the
Chair.
We must continually remind ourselves that the
United Nations was brought into being to serve as a
forum, and, as in Tennyson’s words, to be a parliament
of man. Six decades later, we have yet to achieve the
intentions of the United Nations Charter. Indeed, the
situation in some corners of the world is bleaker than it
ever was before. Yet the human family is still unable to
find solutions to its own problems.
As I review in my mind the events of the past
year, I personally feel most disturbed that many of the
ills in the affairs of our world were the result of
irrational actions caused by prejudice in human
attitudes. Basically, we have failed to engage in
dialogue, communicate and reach out to one another as
fellow humans inhabiting the same planet. Indeed, the
greatest discord today exists among the descendants of
Abraham. These are the People of the Book: the
followers of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, who in
fact share a common beginning, which was the religion
of Abraham.
Of course, dialogue will be endless if it is not
accompanied by action. The purpose of honest
discussion and engagement is to enable us to formulate
rational and effective policies. To achieve this, I
believe that all of us need to listen well and be sincere
in our relations with one another. Much of the dialogue
that takes place results in the parties talking at, instead
of talking to, one another. Any dialogue will certainly
fail if it is predetermined that certain States are
“rogues” or that certain countries are necessarily
“evil”. Such name-calling provides an excuse not to
listen, let alone engage in serious negotiations to find
amicable solutions to serious problems.
A blatant example of the refusal to grant even a
hearing was the early decision by many important
countries not to recognize or do business with Hamas
after that group was elected to power in Palestine
through a properly conducted democratic election.
External assistance was stopped. Funds were blocked.
As a result, millions of Palestinians have suffered for
months without pay or food. I hope that all sanctions
against Palestine will soon be a matter of the past,
when President Abbas succeeds in the task of putting
together a coalition Government embracing all parties
in Palestine. Surely, to dictate or show preferences as
06-52885 32
to who should be elected to power in other countries is
irrational and a sign of double standards.
The oppression of Palestine, which is being
allowed to fester; the invasion of Afghanistan; the
conquest of Iraq; and, most recently, the unrestrained
destruction of Lebanon have all been carried out in the
name of the war against terrorism. The actions of Israel
in the Middle East are being supported, either openly
or tacitly, supposedly in defence of the Judeo-Christian
tradition against the spread of radical militant Islam,
thus legitimizing all those actions, no matter how
brutal. Even Western commentators have conceded that
Israel’s latest assault against Lebanon has helped make
what may once have been extremist opinions part of
the Muslim mainstream. The Muslim world certainly
sees all this as complicity to humiliate Muslim
countries and Muslim societies.
I am afraid that the schism between the West and
the Muslim world will grow even deeper unless the
international community is prepared to accept certain
facts as the truth. The fact is that the sense of
humiliation being felt by the Muslim world is the root
cause for the loss of trust and confidence between the
Muslim world, on the one side, and Judeo-Christian
civilization, on the other. If the international
community refuses or fails to accept this fact, then I
am afraid we are denying the truth.
I believe that much of the prejudice against
Muslims stems from a lack of understanding of the true
nature of Islam and what it stands for. For instance,
there is a lack of appreciation in the West of the role of
religion in the lives of Muslims. Modern Europe has
generally embraced secularism and has largely
removed religion from the public domain, placing it in
the confines of the home and family. For Muslims, the
teachings of Islam serve as their guide for doing all
things, whether conducting their affairs in the public
domain or practicing the religion in their private
homes. I suggest that many of the misunderstandings,
especially those between the Christian West and the
Muslim world, arise out of this fundamental
misunderstanding of the place of religion in the daily
lives of Muslims all over the world. When dealing with
Muslims, one cannot separate them from their religion,
because that is their way of life.
My country, Malaysia, is a multi-ethnic, multi-
religious, multicultural country. However, Islam is
respected by all our people as the official religion. The
Government which I now lead has embarked on a
programme to communicate a proper appreciation of
Islam as a force for good. We call it Islam Hadhari,
which is an approach for achieving a progressive
society that is compatible with modernity yet firmly
rooted in the noble values and injunctions of Islam.
This approach has been accepted by everyone in
Malaysia because underlying the whole message of
Islam Hadhari is a call for equitable development and
progress. It is a call for moderation and tolerance as
well as the assurance of justice and fairness for all,
irrespective of their faith.
The point I am making is that Islam the religion
is not the source of intolerance between people of
different faiths. In fact, one of the fundamental
teachings of Islam is the requirement to respect other
religions. The Holy Koran contains that commandment
by God. We must not confuse the perverse words and
evil deeds of a small number of extremists who operate
on the fringes of Muslim societies as a reflection of
Islamic culture. The demonization of Islam must be
stopped and Islamophobia must be removed. The
politics of fear must cease to dictate the conduct of
relations between peoples and nations. If the politics of
fear is not stopped, then prejudice and irrationality will
continue to prevail in the affairs of the world, and
dialogue will continue to fail.
However, we must persevere, not only to
eliminate political and religious discord among men,
but also to eradicate social and economic injustices,
particularly poverty and disease. That is an
international responsibility, not only in the name of
humanity, but also as a necessary aspect of maintaining
international peace and stability.
We must therefore do all we can to ensure that the
impoverished and marginalized also enjoy the fruits of
economic growth, globalization and free trade. It
would indeed be unfortunate if we were unable to do
so, because the world has become more wealthy than
ever before. We should learn from history that any
economic system in which disparities exist cannot be
sustained in the long term. All too often, such societies
come to a violent end. The civil wars and social unrest
we witness today mark a phase that we must stop.
Malaysia firmly believes that the key to
prosperity, inclusion and equity is sustained economic
growth based on the building of national capacities,
particularly human capital development. While
33 06-52885
education and skills by themselves are no guarantee of
success, they are indispensable ingredients for the
greater productivity of individual citizens, which in
turn gives them hope for a better future.
However, efforts at the national level alone are
not sufficient. Those efforts need to be supplemented
by the establishment of an international economic
order that would cover areas such as trade, finance,
debt, official development assistance (ODA) and
development, and that would enable the developing
world to overcome its difficulties and contribute to
global prosperity. Some progress has been made, but
the overall results have been far from satisfactory.
Given the economic clout that the developed
countries possess, it is essential that they demonstrate
flexibility and goodwill at this critical juncture in the
world trade talks. Malaysia will continue to be
supportive of multilateral trade negotiations.
Malaysia’s approach will, however, never be premised
simply on the notion of progressive liberalization. We
will continue to take a pragmatic approach by
combining liberalization with regulation in a policy
mix consistent with the country’s economic conditions
and development needs.
It is all too clear that our human family must
come together and that its members must talk to one
another if we are to overcome the problems that
threaten to engulf us all. To talk, however, is easy; to
engage in dialogue and to communicate is more
difficult. Indeed, this may be the most difficult of all
human endeavours, given the human temperament with
all its passions and foibles. It will require courage,
humility and an appreciation of the diversities that
make us human.
We must not be patronizing or condescending in
our relationships, and we must certainly not be
threatening. We must be persuasive and patient in
dealing with complexities. The pursuit of peace, justice
and fairness in relations among nations and peoples has
never been easy. Let us take up this challenge, with all
the fortitude that it requires, and together put into
effect a better world.