Sir, at the outset I wish to extend to you my
sincere felicitations on your unanimous ejection
as President of the General Assembly. Your
ejection bears testimony to the recog¬nition and
respect that you enjoy as a diplomat of
outstanding ability. Under your presidency, I am
con¬fident that the Assembly will be able to
complete its work successfully and with
distinction. Your election is also an added honor
to your country, with which Malaysia enjoys
friendly relations. In welcoming your election, I
wish also to pay a sincere tribute to Mr.
Kittani, the outgoing President, on the
outstanding manner in which he conducted the
thirty-sixth session of the General Assembly.
3. Since the General Assembly last met, the
interna¬tional situation has not improved. On the
contrary, it has deteriorated even further. The
world continues to remain in the grip of crises
of various kinds stemming from unresolved
political and military con¬flicts, economic
stagnation and recession, widespread poverty and
privation, and various inequities, all of which
seem to defy solution. Through all this there is
continued escalation of armaments, consuming
enormous funds and resources and threatening
mankind with destruction and possibly extinction.
The General Assembly, meeting against this
backdrop, must get the full backing of the
Members so as to reassert the authority of the
United Nations and play a truly effective role.
4. As we look around us, we have to admit
that this time international law and order has
truly broken down. Might is now the only thing
that is right. Weak coun¬tries like Afghanistan,
Kampuchea and Lebanon are trodden upon by this
boots of invading armies as the rest of the world
stands by. The economies of the poor nations are
wrecked by recession resulting from man-made
policies in the powerful commercial and financial
centers of the world. The pleas of the poor are
but secondary subjects for discussion by the rich
as they meet to plan their own world in places
like Cancun and Versailles. And in Lebanon,
thousands of Palestinians are murdered in the
name of security for the Israelis and their
cohorts.
5. There was a time when the United Nations
sent a multinational force to stop an invasion
and it did in fact succeed. But now it is
helpless. Resolution after resolution is adopted
by the various United Nations committees, but the
invasions, the atrocities and the economic
bullying go on. The credibility of the United
Nations is indeed at its lowest ebb, and we who
are weak and small live in real fear—fear for our
independence, our well-being and even our lives.
6. The need to restore faith in the United
Nations is very pressing. The United Nations must
regain its credibility. I should like to say that
countries like Malaysia must help to restore the
trust and confidence of the international
community in the Organization's ability to play a
constructive role in resolving problems and
crises and in maintaining world peace and
stability, but that would be pure rhetoric. What
is needed is the full backing of the powerful
nations. They must revitalize the Organization
which they created. They must breathe life into
it by abiding by its decisions and lending it
their weight.
7. In South-East Asia, the Kampuchean
problem continues to pose a threat to peace and
security. Three times the General Assembly has
called for the total withdrawal of foreign forces
and the exercise of self- determination by the
Kampuchean people. The International Conference
on Kampuchea laid down the principles for a
political settlement of the problem. But again
those who are in a position to help achieve this
political settlement have shown little concern
for the accepted norms of international practice.
8. The foreign military invasion and
continued occupation of Kampuchea is a crime
against the Kampuchean people and a threat to
regional peace and security. It has brought in
its wake big-Power rivalry into a region where
five peace-loving nations have agreed to a
concept of a zone of peace, freedom and
neutrality. Members of the Association of South
East Asian Nations find in the Kampuchean problem
an insurmountable obstacle to their cherished
dream of a conflict-free neutral area.
9. The world must give serious attention to
the situa¬tion in Kampuchea before big-Power
rivalry escalates into open confrontation, for
when this happens, the United Nations will once
again be powerless to do anything. The Members of
the United Nations must act while there is still
time for them to do so. They must give their
stamp of approval to the valiant coalition that
has been formed.
10. In consonance with the efforts for a
peaceful settlement, Malaysia and ASEAN are
extremely gratified with the agreement reached
among the three resistance groups of Kampuchea to
join hands in the coalition in which His Highness
Prince Sihanouk has assumed the presidency of the
Government of Demo¬cratic Kampuchea. The
determination, wisdom and, above all abiding
sense of patriotism of the three leaders, in
standing together to restore freedom and honor to
their country, deserve our profound admiration.
Malaysia welcomes this development, as it is a
positive and important step towards the
attain¬ment of a political solution. Malaysia
feels honored for having been able on 22 June
1982 to act as host during the historic signing
of the declaration estab-lishing the coalition by
His Highness Prince Sihanouk, Mr. Son Sann and
Mr. Khieu Samphan. I am indeed happy about the
presence and participation at this session of His
High¬ness Prince Norodom Sihanouk, President of
Demo¬cratic Kampuchea and the beloved leader of
the Kampuchean people. I hope that the Assembly
will respond appropriately and positively to his
noble cause. We await with keen anticipation his
triumphant return to Kampuchea to restore the
freedom and inde¬pendence of that country and the
honor and dignity of the Kampuchean people.
11. In West Asia, the situation has also taken a
turn for the worse since the thirty-sixth session
of the General Assembly. Since the Palestinians
were evicted from their homeland, they have been
forced to move from one refuge to another
countless times. Their rights us a people are
still being denied. They are not even treated as
humans, as the brutal massacres in Lebanon amply
demonstrate.
12. We remember vividly the horrors of Belsen,
Dachau and other Nazi concentration camps of the
Second World War. We know of the sufferings of
the Jewish people then and the pogroms of
centuries past. We were appalled at those
atrocities. Nevertheless, nobody—not even a
people that has suffered as much as the Jews
have—has the right to inflict upon others the
horrors of Sabra and Shatila. The Palestinians
and the Lebanese were not responsible for Belsen
or Dachau. Has the international community lost
its conscience that it could stand aloof while
such horrors were perpetrated against the
helpless and the innocent? In order to assuage
the conscience of the anti-Semites, the land of
the Palestinians has already been taken away from
them to create a Jewish home-land. Must the
Palestinians now be butchered and driven from
refuge to refuge? Must they also be exterminated?
We understand the conscience which bothers the
people that were once cruel to the Jews. We
understand their need to make amends for their
past misdeeds. But are we going to condone
massacres because we or, rather, the powerful
nations of the world are unwilling to hurt the
feelings of the Jews? Some may think that the
massacres in the Sabra and Shatila camps will
satiate the Israelis and that they will go back
to their Israel. This can only be a wrong
assumption. Recent history has shown, and the
Israeli Prime Minister has admitted, that Israel
never really fought in self-defense. It attacks
at the slightest provocation—even imagined
provocation. The neighbors of Israel are going to
be under constant threat and again and again they
will be invaded, and atroc¬ities committed
against them. In the interest of Israeli
security, there will be no security for its
neighbors. Can we accept that only the security
of Israel is important and that its Arab
neighbors have no right to security?
13. Israel is a bully. If it were any bigger
or stronger, the world would not be safe. I
should therefore like to call upon the United
States, as the main supplier of weapons to
Israel, to reconsider its position. Those weapons
are for nothing less than murder. Apart from its
systematic and premeditated use of lethal and
sadistic weapons on occupied Palestine and Arab
territories, Israel continues to propagate the
myth of the non-existence of the Palestinian
people, thereby frustrating all peaceful efforts
to find adjust and enduring settlement of the
West Asian conflict. Indeed, the lesson we have
learned from the Israeli invasion of neighbouring
Lebanon and the destruction of Beirut is that, if
Israel is not stopped, the West Asia problem will
not only continue but also escalate until we are
all swallowed up in the conflagration. At this
point, I wish to pay homage to the valiant
Palestinian freedom fighters for their
outstanding qualities of fortitude, patriotism
and courage in the face of overwhelming odds in
their just struggle for their inalienable rights.
I also take this opportunity to salute Chairman
Yasser Arafat for his statesmanship, foresight
and courage in leaving Beirut in order to spare
the civilian population of that city continued
Israeli savagery. Unfortunately, the sacrifice
made by the Palestine Liberation Organization
[PLO] has been in vain.
14. Malaysia would also like to welcome the
initiative taken recently at Fez by the Arab
leaders at the Twelfth Arab Summit Conference,
which reflects the reasonableness of their stand
as much as their courage, statesmanship and,
above all, their reaffirmation of their
commitments to the Charter of the United Nations
and to regional and international peace and
security. This initiative presents to the
interna¬tional community a formula which will
enable the Palestinians to return to their homes
and freely exercise their God-given inalienable
rights in their own home¬land, Palestine. The
Israelis have of course rejected the proposal
outright. The world and the supporters of Israel
must prevail upon that habitually intransigent
country to return to sanity and the ways of
civilization.
15. In Afghanistan, too, we continue to
witness another example of the blatant use of
force. There, too, we continue to find the misery
and the travails of a people locked in an unequal
struggle to preserve their faith, national
identity and character, their sovereignty,
dignity and freedom.
16. Indeed, the situation within Afghanistan,
and that of the 3.5 million refugees forced into
exile in neigh¬bouring countries have given cause
for unprecedented anxiety, particularly for weak
and small nations of the world. To these nations,
the continuance of the Afghan nationalist
struggle is crucial. It is incumbent on the
international community to see that this struggle
succeeds.
17. We in Malaysia are fully committed to the
restora¬tion of the lawful rights of the Afghan
people, including their right to determine for
themselves their future, free from coercion, and
to the return of the Afghan refugees to their
homes in safety and with honor.
18. We support the efforts of the
Secretary-General in initiating indirect talks
with the parties concerned to find a political
solution consistent with the United Nations and
resolutions of the Organization of the Islamic
Conference on the Afghan problem.
19. It is disconcerting that the war between
Iraq and Iran continues to rage. The conflict has
gone on, far too long. It has taken a heavy toll
in lives lost, in property destroyed, in wounds
inflicted and in human misery. We must all
therefore apply ourselves earnestly to the task
of reconciling the two countries in the interests
of the peoples of those countries themselves and
those of the world at large. The fact is that
there can be neither victor nor vanquished in
this conflict.
20. Malaysia enjoys close and cordial
relations with both Iran and Iraq and we
therefore implore them to cease fighting and to
accept mediation and reconcilia¬tion so that an
honorable and enduring solution can be found.
21. My Government abhors South Africa's
inhuman policy of apartheid. It is a travesty of
justice and an affront to human dignity coupled
with the Pretoria regime's deliberate and
provocative armed incursions into neighbouring
States, constitutes a major cause of tension and
instability, not only in Africa, but throughout
the world. Malaysia will con¬tinue fully to
support the cause of the oppressed people of
South Africa in their struggle for equality,
justice and dignity, and against those who
champion human rights, or claim to do so, would
do better to condemn the Pretoria regime, and
treat it like the freak it is.
22. Another area of great concern to us is
the problem of drug abuse. The world community
has for a long time treated the drug problem as a
social problem akin to poverty, slavery, child
abuse and other social ills. In fact, drug
addiction is all those social ills rolled into
one. The youths afflicted with this problem are
mental slaves with deviant tendencies who are
per¬manently impoverished. The problem must be
tackled at its source, and this can be done only
if the United Nations acts positively. Failure to
arrest this spreading scourge will destroy whole
generations to come.
23. The age of empires and imperial Powers is
practically over, but the world has not as yet
become a better place for the previously
colonized. There are many reasons for this, and
among them is the banding together of the rich
nations in order to maintain eco¬nomic dominance,
which some say is actually a form of imperialism.
24. We in Malaysia are very much affected by
this. As a nation, we have tried to live within
the rules, formal and informal, which govern
economic relations between nations. We have even
refrained from nationalizing industries set up
during colonial days, which were engaged in
literally extracting wealth from our country for
foreigners who frequently do not even know where
Malaysia is, much less care for the well- being
of its people. But our patience and sense of fair
play are being taxed to the limit by the market
manipulations abroad which, in effect, reduce our
people to the status of underpaid laborers. As a
producer of primary commodities like tin, rubber
and palm oil, we are as much entitled to a fair
return on our outlay as any producer of
manufactured goods in the developed countries.
Producing these primary products is no longer
merely a question of having enough land or
minerals and cheap labour. These days, expensive
capital outlay is needed to explore, extract and
develop them, and also to do the required
research and development. The indications are
that these costs and the technology required will
increase steadily in the years to come. Thus,
money is needed, not merely for profits, but for
future development, for our own income and for
the needs of the world.
25. While the manufactured goods that we buy
are priced according to the costs of production
and marketing—plus, of course, a hefty profit—the
prices of primary products seem to bear no
relation to any of those costs. They are priced
according to the whims and fancies of a host of
people who have nothing to do with their
production. The various exchanges located in the
developed countries literally manipulate prices
in order to make a profit for the brokers, the
dealers, the speculators and others. These people
make money when the prices go up. They also make
money when the prices come down. Therefore, it
suits them to cause a "yo-yo" effect in commodity
prices. In addition, these exchanges are
exclusive clubs, where the producers are unable
to secure membership. The brokers and others who
trade on the exchanges are the same people who
make the rules, apply the rules and arbitrate. Is
it any wonder that whenever their profits are
threatened they change the rules so as not only
to save themselves, but to make a handsome profit
as well?
26. That is the situation in the tin and
rubber markets today. It has played havoc with my
country's eco¬nomy. We have tried to reduce price
fluctuations by having producer-consumer
agreements, but this is an arrangement that taxes
the producers when prices are down but which
benefits the consumers when price trends are
upwards. It is a case of "heads I win, tails you
lose".
27. As if all that were not enough, the
United States maintains a stockpile, ostensibly
for strategic —meaning security—reasons. We fully
support the needs of the United States for
strategic reserves, but the administration of
that reserve is clearly not influenced by
problems of strategy. The stockpile is merely a
rich nation's monopolistic weapon, used to
depress prices of commodities for the benefit of
the consumers.
28. Such is the fate of the producers of
primary commodities that they now have to sell
three to five times as much of their produce as
they did 20 years ago in order to buy the same
amount of manufactured goods from the developed
countries. In other words, the gap between rich
and poor has widened by 300 to 500 per cent in
the last 20 years or so.
29. Malaysia is trying to break the vicious
circle of the old commodity market system. We are
trying to set up a more suitable system which
will maintain reasonable prices while ensuring
adequate supplies of tin and rubber to the world.
To that end, we have tried to form a viable and
effective producers' asso¬ciation. There is no
intention to create a monopolistic situation. We
know full well that unreasonableness on our part
would result in reduced consumption and a switch
to substitutes. We hope that producer countries
everywhere will appreciate the need for this
strategy and participate in it.
30. Commodity prices today arc at their
lowest. We can blame the recession for that. But
what we regret is that this recession is
man-made. There is no shortage of supply, nor is
there a shortage of demand. Energy is plentiful
and the level of technology is unprece¬dented^
high. Yet suddenly, no one wants to buy what only
yesterday he could not get enough of. And those
who want to buy are without the necessary foreign
exchange. Indeed, many poor countries have
virtually to sell their souls in order merely to
survive.
31. As I have said, this world-wide
depression is man-made. It is made in the
powerful countries by short-sighted people.
Foremost among the decisions that led to the
diminution of world trade is the increase in
interest rates. The high cost of money has
reduced investments, shrunk inventories and
stifled new business initiatives. Thus a lot of
commodities are floating around unsold and
unsought, further depressing prices.
32. True, some people have waxed rich in this
depression, but the price is high in terms of
unem¬ployment, bankruptcies and misery for the
poor. The world's economy cannot go on like this
for long. There will be violence, riots and
revolutions; Governments will fall, and anarchy
will prevail. The longer the depression lasts,
the longer it will take to recover.
33. As this depression is man-made, man must
unmake it too. The first need is the lowering of
interest rates, even if it causes slightly higher
inflation. Secondly, the protectionism of the
rich nations must be reduced if not done away
with altogether. If this cannot be done, at least
the protectionist policy should be made more
discriminating. The developing nations should not
be subjected to any protectionist measures. This
should at least soften the impact of the
recession on them. The rich countries, too, would
benefit as the improved income of the poor would
enable them to buy more manufactured goods. The
world has suffered enough from this depression.
We need action now. We need the reversal of
policies that are so obviously wrong. We should
like to appeal to those people who wield so much
power to heed the needs of the world. Reverse the
policies you have made, and the world will
remember you as saviors.
34. The participating Members of the United
Nations must congratulate themselves on the
successful conclusion of the Third United Nations
Conference on the Law of the Sea. The days when
the rich nations of the world could take for
themselves what¬ever territory and resources they
had access to be over. Henceforth all the
unclaimed wealth of this earth must be regarded
as the common heritage of all the nations of this
planet. The seas and the sea-bed are undoubtedly
going to be the source of wealth for the future.
There is no reason why the minerals and other
resources now found on the exposed surfaces of
the planet will not be found in the sea-bed! The
problem is, of course, one of exploration and
extrac¬tion. The high cost and the sophisticated
technology required will be well beyond the
capacity of the poor nations. Unless they can
have a share as of right whenever this wealth is
extracted ^ the gap between them and the rich
nations going to widen even more. When finally
they do have the capacity, much of the readily
accessible wealth will have been exhausted. It is
to be hoped that, given the agreement on the law
of the sea, the poor nations will get their fair
share.
35. But there remain certain areas in the
world which are not covered by any international
agreement. According to present norms,
territories colonized by the old colonial Powers
must be decolonized—that is, they must be
returned to the natives or the original
inhabitants. United Nations concern on this issue
is reflected in the permanent Special Committee
on the Situation with regard to the
Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting
of Independence to Colonial Countries and
Peoples. However, there are still land areas
which have neither natives nor settlers. There is
therefore no one to inherit the land and to set
up viable governments should the claims of the
metropolitan Powers be given up. Because of this,
little attention has been paid to these areas.
36. It is now time that the United Nations
focused its attention on these areas, the largest
of which is the continent of Antarctica. A number
of countries have in the past sent expeditions
there which have not limited themselves to mere
scientific exploration but have gone on to claim
huge wedges of Antarctica for their countries.
Those countries are not depriving any natives of
their lands, and they are therefore not required
to decolonize. But the fact remains that those
uninhabited lands do not legally belong to the
dis¬coverers, just as the colonial territories do
not belong to the colonial Powers. Like the seas
and the sea-bed, those uninhabited lands belong
to the international community. The countries now
claiming them must give them up so that either
the United Nations can administer those lands or
the present occupants can act as trustees for the
nations of the world. At present the exploitation
of the resources of Antarctica is too costly and
the technology is not yet available, but no doubt
the day will come when Antarctica can provide the
world with food and other resources for its
development. It is only right that such
exploita¬tion should benefit the poor nations as
much as the rich.
37. Now that we have reached agreement on the
law of the sea the United Nations must convene a
meeting in order to define the problem of
uninhabited lands, whether claimed or unclaimed,
and to determine the rights of all nations to
those lands. We are aware of the Antarctic
Treaty,' concluded by a few nations, which
provides for their co-operation for scientific
research and prohibits non-peaceful activities.
While there is some merit in this Treaty, it is
nevertheless an agreement between a select group
of countries and does not reflect 6he true
feelings of the Members of the United Nations or
their just claims. A new international agreement
is required so that historical episodes are not
made into facts to substantiate claims.
38. As I said at the beginning, the world is
today beset by crises of various kinds. To
believe otherwise would be to ignore the
realities before us. It is imper¬ative that we
take cognizance of this fact and mobilize all our
efforts to overcome these crises. We can do this
if we choose to, or we can let the opportunity
slip by. Never before has human ingenuity in
science and technology reached such a level of
development as it has today. But we must use it
wisely,not in pursuit of sophisticated weaponry
for purposes of war; we must instead harness it
for peaceful and beneficial uses for the common
good.
39. It is an imperiled world in which we are
living, and we must put it right at all costs.
This could come about if nations were willing
effectively to implement past and future
resolutions of the United Nations and related
agencies, for this would not only help to restore
the international community's confidence in the
United Nations but also contribute to the
reso¬lution of the current conflicts and crises.
I urge all Members of the Organization to give
their fullest co¬operation and all support
towards this end so that international peace,
stability and security may be achieved.