Malaysia, 2001

My delegation would like

to congratulate the distinguished Foreign Minister of

the Republic of Korea on his election as President of

the fifty-sixth session of the General Assembly. I have

no doubt that under his able and wise stewardship he

will be able to guide the proceedings of this Assembly

to a successful conclusion. Our congratulations also go

to the other members of the Bureau, including your

good self, Sir.

I should also like to join other speakers in

expressing my delegation’s gratitude to Mr. Harri

Holkeri for the excellent manner in which he conducted

and guided the work of the fifty-fifth session of the

General Assembly.

I should also like to congratulate Mr. Kofi Annan

on his re-election as Secretary-General for another

five-year term. We are confident that he will continue

to serve the Organization with the same single-minded

commitment he has shown in the past. We also

congratulate him and the United Nations on being

awarded the centennial Nobel Peace Prize. That is due

recognition of the many contributions that he and the

Organization have made in the service of the

international community.

We are gratified that we are finally able to

convene the general debate after the uncertainties that

we have had to face in the wake of the horrific events

of 11 September 2001. Malaysia strongly condemned

the terrorist attacks and shared the anguish of the

American people over the senseless deaths of so many

thousands of innocent people. We once again express

our profound condolences to the United States and

other countries that lost their nationals in that tragedy.

We ourselves lost a number of our own and understand

the pain of the bereaved. As an Islamic country, we are

very much concerned that a group of misguided people,

identified as Muslims, carried out such terrible acts in

the name of our sacred religion. They have tarnished

the name of Islam, which stands for peace, and have

tried to equate their creed of terror with that of our

faith, thereby doing a great disservice to our great

religion and our community. Fortunately, their ploy has

not worked. In this regard we are grateful to President

George W. Bush and other world leaders for

categorically rejecting the stereotyping and association

of Islam and Muslims with terrorism. In this regard,

every effort should be made to ensure that people of

the Islamic faith are not discriminated against simply

because of their faith, ethnic background or the country

they come from.

On an unrelated matter, my delegation extends its

sincere condolences to the delegations of the United

States and the Dominican Republic, and those of other

Member States, for the loss of their nationals in the

tragic air crash that occurred yesterday on Long Island.

Malaysia is ready to contribute to the global

effort to combat the scourge of terrorism. In dealing

with the issue, there is a need for the international

community, through the United Nations, to work out a

sound strategy incorporating all aspects of the problem.

While we understand the natural urge for retribution

against the people who are believed to be behind the

heinous attacks and their supporters, we do not think

military actions are the best and most effective

solution, nor politically a wise one. We are concerned

that military actions may raise more problems than

they solve. A sound strategy should include, aside from

the military option, political/diplomatic efforts and

legal, economic and other measures. It should involve a

long and sustained campaign in an effort to get at and

destroy, once and for all, each and every root of the

terrorist organization or organizations behind these

attacks.

A concerted and coordinated effort on the part of

the international community is the most appropriate

and effective approach. For this purpose there is a need

for the convening of an international conference at the

highest level to consider the issue of terrorism in all its

aspects and manifestations, including the necessity of

agreeing on the definition of what constitutes

terrorism. That is important so that pure terrorism,

which cannot be excused under any pretext, can be

differentiated from the legitimate struggles of peoples

under colonial or alien domination and foreign

occupation for self-determination and national

liberation, as recognized by the relevant resolutions of

the United Nations and other international declarations.

Agreement on the definition of terrorism is vitally

important so as to clear up any ambiguities and

uncertainties that may hamper international

cooperation. Such a conference should also address the

important issue of the root causes of, or factors that

spawn, terrorism. Those factors may be political,

economic or social, but they must be addressed in all

26

seriousness and objectivity so that appropriate

strategies and practical and effective measures can be

formulated to deal with them.

As for Afghanistan, there should be an immediate

cessation of the current bombings in order to spare the

hapless people of Afghanistan further harm and

suffering. They have suffered too long enough — 20

years too long. They should be allowed to return to

their villages and homes to prepare for the cold winter

season and Ramadan, which are fast approaching. The

cessation of the bombings would also allow for the

return of international relief workers so that they can

resume their commendable humanitarian work.

Enormous amounts of international assistance are

required. We commend those countries that have

responded generously and appeal to those that have not

done so. We ourselves have set up an Afghanistan

Relief Fund with a very positive response from both

the Government and the public. On the political/

diplomatic front, the United Nations should make every

effort to bring peace to Afghanistan through a political

settlement. We hope that the debate that is now going

on in the Security Council on this issue will yield

constructive results.

The situation in Palestine and the Middle East

continues to be a matter of serious concern to the

international community. The issue must be urgently

addressed, not only for its own sake but also to prevent

it from being exploited by certain groups of people for

their own ends. It is imperative, if enduring peace is to

be achieved in the Middle East, for the peace process

to be revived on an urgent basis. We believe that the

Mitchell report offers a good basis for bringing the

situation back to the negotiating table. We commend

the Palestinian Authority for unambiguously accepting

the report. However, we regret that the Israeli side,

while indicating general “acceptance”, rejected major

parts of the report, including the call for the complete

cessation of settlement activity, one of the main causes

of the current cycle of violence in the occupied

Palestinian territory.

The continued military offensive against the

Palestinians raises questions about the sincerity of the

Israeli leadership to work for peace. The Israeli

authorities have tried to cow the Palestinian people by

an overwhelming use of force, using an assortment of

its formidable arsenals. That excessive use of force has

resulted in more than 800 Palestinians being killed and

more than 20,000 being wounded. Regrettably, the calls

of the international community have fallen on deaf ears

as the Israeli forces continue their offensive against the

Palestinians on the pretext of ending the campaign

against terrorism. The aggressive actions by the

occupying Power must cease if peace is to be given a

chance to grow.

There is no military solution to the problem.

Indeed, the provocative measures taken by Israel will

only aggravate the situation. We therefore strongly urge

the Israeli Government to desist from pursuing a

military solution. A just, comprehensive and lasting

solution is possible only through a negotiated political

settlement — a process that the international

community and this body must actively pursue. This

must include the complete withdrawal of Israel from all

Arab and Palestinian land occupied since 1967,

including the city of Al-Quds al-Sharif and the

occupied Syrian Golan. We also reaffirm our support

for the establishment of an independent State of

Palestine, with Al-Quds al-Sharif as its capital. Only

the implementation of all international resolutions on

the Palestinian issue can guarantee lasting peace

between Israel and Palestine. We once again call on

Israel to comply with Security Council resolutions 242

(1967) and 338 (1973) and all other relevant

resolutions of the Security Council and the General

Assembly. Equally, we look forward to the return of the

Syrian Golan without further delay. We hope to see a

future environment that will bring development and

opportunities in a peaceful and stable Middle East.

Malaysia has consistently voiced its opposition to

the use of sanctions as an instrument of collective

punishment. No one can deny its debilitating effects on

the general populace of the affected countries. We

therefore strongly urge the international community, in

particular the Security Council, to seriously review the

impact of sanctions on Member States, particularly

those imposed on Iraq and Libya, which in our view

should be lifted as soon as possible as they have

already served their purpose.

The danger of a nuclear holocaust remains real

and serious. We should strive for the ultimate objective

of a world free of weapons of mass destruction —

nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. We should

make every effort to strengthen all existing nuclear-

related disarmament, arms control and reduction

measures. The multilateral search for genuine measures

for disarmament and non-proliferation, particularly in

27

the nuclear area, must remain the highest priority on

the global disarmament agenda.

After more than 20 years of the HIV/AIDS

pandemic, the United Nations finally recognized its

catastrophic impact on populations around the world

and convened a special session for an expanded

response to the pandemic. It is now up to the

international community to take resolute and concerted

action to combat this scourge and to acknowledge that

the world’s most affected populations are also among

the poorest and lack the much-needed resources to act

alone. With about 95 per cent of all HIV-infected

people living in developing countries, it is essential

that every assistance be given to them to combat the

scourge. We hope that a review conference will be

convened a few years from now to assess how far we

have come in our fight against this devastating disease.

Racism constitutes one of the most heinous forms

of human rights violations, not only in itself, but as it

also gives rise to other egregious forms of systematic

human rights violations such as colonialism, slavery

and genocide. These have in turn resulted in poverty,

underdevelopment, marginalization and social

exclusion for far too many. We are therefore heartened

that the outcome of the World Conference against

Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and

Related Intolerance, held in Durban recently, contained

elements that will further our efforts to eradicate

racism, the most prominent of which is the recognition

by the international community that slavery and the

slave trade are crimes against humanity. Unfortunately,

we view the outcome documents as inadequate as they

do not sufficiently address the plight of the Palestinian

people, who are victims of policies based on

discrimination and exclusion.

We look forward to the upcoming special session

on children as an affirmation of the centrality of

children to our common future and a positive proof of

our commitment to ensuring the survival, protection

and development of all children around the world.

While many of the goals set by the World Summit for

Children have been achieved, an estimated 600 million

children are still struggling to survive, eat and learn on

less than $1 a day. Let us also not overlook the plight

of children affected by sanctions, such as the hapless

children of Iraq, many of whom do not survive beyond

the age of five.

Many of us in the developing world had

welcomed, indeed embraced, globalization almost

unquestioningly as if it were a panacea for all our

problems, only to be disillusioned over time when we

found that rather than a holistic process benefiting all

of humanity, it was being pursued more often than not

as a strategy for the benefit of a few. While the world is

richer today, millions of people are still living in

absolute poverty, suffering from want, sickness and

malnutrition. Globalization is a complex process, with

as many opportunities as challenges. While the impact

of globalization is profound and pervasive, not all of it

is necessarily positive. As we embrace it there is a need

to ensure that we minimize its negative impact,

particularly on the developing countries.

If globalization in its present form is pursued,

characterized, inter alia, by weakened national

sovereignty and growing ownership and control of new

technologies by powerful nations, it will not be the

universal remedy it was thought to be. The Asian

financial crisis demonstrated forcefully the downside

of globalization. It demonstrated the inherent

instability of the world economic system, in which

trade and economic liberalization have not necessarily

led to faster growth and development for the

developing countries. What is clear is that growth and

development require an enabling international

environment and international support that can promote

growth with equity for the benefit of all.

To enable developing countries to participate in

and benefit equally from globalization, adequate

funding for development, among other things, is

required. It is therefore most disheartening to see the

steady decline over the years in the volume of official

development assistance (ODA) to developing

countries. The continued need for an inflow of ODA

and new and additional financial resources will become

even more critical with the advancement of

globalization and the shift to the new knowledge-based

economy. Unless the ODA situation improves, the

developing countries will be further marginalized in a

rapidly globalizing world economy, characterized by

rapid change, high technology and stiff competition.

The developing countries, particularly the least

developed, must therefore continue to be assisted in a

more sustained fashion in order to bring about a more

equitable distribution of growth and economic

prosperity. The developing countries, for their part,

28

must put their house in order by adopting sound

economic policies.

The issue of financing for development is

particularly relevant and vitally important in solving

the problems of development faced by many countries.

The International Conference on Financing for

Development, in Mexico early next year, will provide

the opportunity for us to achieve international

consensus on issues pertaining to financing for

development in all its aspects. We thank the

Government of Mexico for its willingness to host that

important Conference and look forward to participating

constructively in Monterrey. We hope that the

Conference will be able to address the core problems

relating to financing for development, including other

systemic issues such as the reform of the international

financial architecture, on which, in spite of a general

recognition of the need for reform, there has been no

progress thus far.

As an innovative source of financing for

development, the Conference in Monterrey could also

consider, inter alia, the possibility of establishing an

appropriate system of international taxation for the

purpose of infrastructure-building in the least

developed countries. This international tax, which was

suggested by my Prime Minister, Mr. Mahathir

Mohamad, will be contributed by those countries that

have benefited from international trade, over and above

the economic aid given by them to the developing

countries. Malaysia is quite prepared to contribute to

such an infrastructure tax.

The challenge facing developing countries in

integrating themselves into the international trading

system lies in their ability to fully and actively

participate in the multilateral trading system.

Regrettably, many developing countries have not

benefited from global trade liberalization because of

their inability to have access to the markets of

developed countries. Although globalization carries

with it the notion of free trade, many developed

countries maintain protectionist regimes and subsidies

as basic instruments of economic policy, even as they

insist on opening up the markets of the developing

countries in the name of globalization. It is also

disappointing to the developing countries that,

structurally, little has been done in the area of trade to

improve their ability and capability to compete in the

global market. There is, therefore, an urgent need to

facilitate the integration of the developing countries

into the global trading system through, inter alia, the

special differential measures provided for under the

Uruguay Round. A new round, should it be launched,

should ensure that negotiations effectively address the

particular concerns and problems of developing

countries. However, any negotiations will have to

formally recognize that the least developed

countries — indeed, for that matter, many of the

developing countries — have neither the financial nor

human resources to meet their existing obligations, let

alone the outcome of future negotiations. In this regard

we believe that the role of the United Nations

Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), as

one of the few mechanisms concerned with the

development of the developing countries, is of the

utmost importance. We hope that UNCTAD will

continue to play a leading role in helping developing

countries, particularly in efforts to reach the

Millennium Declaration’s development target of

halving poverty by the year 2015.

With regard to the situation in Africa, my

delegation welcomes the United Nations Millennium

Declaration adopted last year, which, among other

things, pledged to pay special attention to meeting the

special needs of Africa. The international community

must continue to assist African countries in their

development needs. We should continue to assist our

African brothers in their struggle for lasting peace,

poverty eradication and sustainable development.

Malaysia, for its part, has been able to make a modest

contribution through the Malaysian Technical

Cooperation Programme, launched in 1981. To date,

many participants from African countries have taken

part in various short-term and medium-term courses in

the public, administration and technical fields in

Malaysia. We have also developed economic relations

with some African countries based on the concept of

smart partnership, involving Governments and the

private sector, with the goal of promoting sound and

sustainable economic activities to ensure a win-win

relationship for all. Within our limited resources,

Malaysia looks forward to further consolidating our

cooperation and solidarity with Africa in the spirit of

South-South cooperation.

Malaysia welcomes the Secretary-General’s

pledge to move the United Nations from a culture of

reaction to a culture of prevention. This culture should

be the cornerstone of the Organization’s collective

security system for this century. It is a far better and

29

more cost-effective approach, in financial as well as in

human terms, than mounting any operation or activity

after a conflict has erupted. We are pleased to note that

the Secretary-General continues to pursue that culture

with the relevant regional organizations in order to

further enhance a comprehensive approach by drawing

on regional preventive strategies. We urge the

Secretary-General to continue to consult the relevant

regional or subregional groups in this regard.

In conclusion, I should like to raise an issue that

was mentioned by my Prime Minister, Mr. Mahathir

Mohamad, when he addressed the fifty-fourth session

of the General Assembly. The problem relates to

immunities granted to nationals of Member States by

virtue of the 1946 Convention on the Privileges and

Immunities of the United Nations and the 1947

Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of

Specialized Agencies once they are appointed as

officials of the United Nations, such as a rapporteur.

While Malaysia acknowledges the need for immunities

to be granted to ensure that these officials are able to

carry out their mandate effectively, it seems that they

are able to hide behind this cloak of immunity for

every criticism made of their own Government,

including words that fall outside their mandate. Surely

even they should be treated as ordinary citizens,

governed by the laws of the land, when they are not

officially “on mission”. My delegation calls for clear

guidelines to govern the conduct of United Nations

officials, especially when residing in their own

countries, so that their actions fall strictly within their

mandates and that they will enjoy immunities there

only at such times as they are officially performing

their functions as United Nations officials, and not all

year round. Surely, also, there should be a better basis

for the appointment of United Nations officials — a

nominee should be one who is known for his or her

neutral or unbiased views, and not who, in the words of

my Prime Minister “is well known for his virulent

attacks” — to report on any given matter. Surely on

this issue the United Nations would be among the first

to agree that while there is a need to protect and ensure

the freedom and impartiality of its officials, it must

also, at the same time, protect the rights and interests

of its Member States.