Brunei, 1996

It

is a very special pleasure for Brunei Darussalam to greet

you, Mr. President, as a close friend and neighbour.

Please accept our warmest congratulations, both to you

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and to all Malaysians, on your election. May I also express

our appreciation to His Excellency Mr. Freitas do Amaral

for his leadership during our fiftieth session.

Our fiftieth anniversary has come and gone. We still

remember the many fine statements made last year. Now,

however, we have to give them practical substance. In this

regard, Mr. President, I was very interested in your recent

statements on the role of the General Assembly. I was

particularly pleased that you emphasized practical economic

and social development.

It was also most encouraging to hear you say that you

intend to do all you can for the cause of United Nations

reform. Like you, I feel that the General Assembly must

not be paralysed by the analysis of reform. We need

concrete proposals from our working groups. Then we can

spend our time on the hard work of building consensus.

The need is urgent. Tension and conflict within

nations are growing. At the same time, the United Nations

is increasingly being asked to solve problems in many new

areas of international concern — social, economic and

sometimes even criminal — that transcend national borders.

It is also expected to address the deep-seated causes of

future instability, the widening gap between North and

South and the allied problems of overpopulation and

urbanization, which have been so sharply exposed by this

Organization at recent conferences. Above all, it has to face

the results of these problems in the form of mounting

intolerance, violent aggression and, all too often, extremism

and terrorism.

In trying to do all this, its resources are overstretched.

For this reason, I would like to thank the Secretary-General,

his representatives and all those who are serving this

Organization in the field, often in extremely difficult

conditions. Their work represents a deep commitment to the

cause of peace and stability in the world and I admire and

greatly appreciate it. However, I also tend to think that

maybe we are asking them to take on new tasks with old or

outdated tools. If they are not provided with the means to

manage our affairs well, then we in the United Nations are

at fault.

In this respect, the tragedy of Bosnia is a warning to

us. Certainly, we in Brunei Darussalam welcome recent

developments and will continue to give our strong support

to the new Government in Bosnia. At the same time, I feel

that all of us in this Assembly should recognize the extent

to which the events of the last five years reveal our own

shortcomings.

We hope that the Security Council will now begin to

insist that all agreements be resolutely kept. We would

like to see it acting firmly against political pressure from

any quarter and ensuring that nothing is allowed to stand

in the way of the peoples’ recovery.

I say this with particular concern as we are now

facing what could become another emblem of failure for

us: the current situation in the Middle East. Until quite

recently, this was a problem which had defied solution

since the earliest days of this Organization. Then, at last,

a peace agreement was reached which gave us a realistic

glimpse of hope. Even though we realized that it would

be a very difficult process, we felt optimistic. However,

a new Government in Israel now appears to be

challenging the very basis on which our own hopes for

peace were founded. The solutions that appeared to be

within the grasp of the parties directly concerned are

under threat. Rather than becoming more manageable, the

scope of the so-called Middle East problem has now

extended to include the people of Iraq.

It is consequently with great concern that Brunei

Darussalam adds its voice to the many who wish to

impress on the leaders of Israel the need to continue the

peace process, not just by making statements, but in the

full spirit of the agreements reached in Madrid and Oslo.

What I have briefly described represents the sum of

economic, social and political problems, which in our

view calls for a new approach on our part. This can only

be developed, we feel, when the United Nations is

reformed. I say this because we are seeing the emergence

of a new type of international community, far more

diverse than the one our founders knew. At the same

time, it is one which is being drawn even closer together

through the advance of technology and

communications — the “global village” of popular

description.

There are many reasons to welcome this. It could

mean that we all learn to acknowledge and appreciate our

diversity and to take on the best aspects of a real village.

However, there is no guarantee. Villages are not always

pleasant places to live in. They have their darker side.

Modern technology may well encourage neighbourly

cooperation, but it is just as capable of enhancing the

hostile elements of primitive village life. It could set up

a permanent division between the developed and the

developing worlds.

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That is why I feel it is essential for us to find an

effective new approach to the tremendous changes taking

place today. As members know, this is what we are trying

to develop in South-East Asia. The way we have chosen

has enabled us to promote programmes aimed at preventive

diplomacy and economic cooperation in our region. It has

also meant that we have been able to offer some wider

assistance to the cause of South-South cooperation.

These are specific measures with practical aims and

they are producing clear results, but they also have a

broader and deeper effect. They enable us not only to

manage the diversity of our region, but also, at a very

human level, to learn to appreciate each others’ differences

and enjoy the challenge of working together.

By way of example, I would like to commend our

friends and colleagues in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar for

their intention to join the Association of South-East Asian

Nations (ASEAN). They are making a lasting contribution

to peace and stability in our region. We are therefore

delighted to be on the verge of seeing the whole of South-

East Asia working together in cooperation.

What this has led to in terms of strengthening

international peace and security is illustrated by our very

extensive dialogue process. One practical result of this in

our region was the signing of the South-East Asia Nuclear-

Weapon-Free Zone Treaty at the last ASEAN summit. This

is a Treaty which we would like all nuclear-weapon States

to join as a commitment to peace in our region. It was in

this spirit that we endorsed the resolution on the

Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, passed by this

Assembly earlier this month, as a first step towards

worldwide nuclear disarmament.

What we are trying to stress is the need for inclusion,

drawing together all parties to a problem, working towards

consensus rather than demanding compromise and bringing

everyone into the mainstream of decision-making. The kind

of results we hope for were shown just this month in the

achievements of the Government of the Philippines and the

leaders of the Moro National Liberation Front through the

good offices of Indonesia. Their efforts brought to an end

more than 20 years of violence and hostility, and I would

like to congratulate all the parties involved.

We see this as reflecting the need that lies behind the

strong calls that many Member States have made for reform

of this Organization. It acknowledges that aggression must

be dealt with firmly, but it also recognizes what has been

tragically impressed upon us all over the past few years in

Europe, Africa and Asia. It is what guides all our work in

our region and, I suggest, must be the starting point for

any new approach to the conduct of international affairs

today. It is the knowledge that, if we do not accept and

willingly embrace diversity, there is a price to be paid

and it is unacceptable.