Brunei, 2012

On behalf of His Majesty the Sultan and the people

of Brunei Darussalam, I would like to congratulate

our new President, His Excellency Mr. Vuk Jeremić, on his election and to wish him much success in the

coming year. We also wish to express our appreciation

to the outgoing President, His Excellency Mr. Nassir

Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, for his dedication to the work

of the Organization. We especially thank him for his

efforts to encourage us all to meet successfully the

considerable challenges now being posed by life in the

twenty-first century.

At the same time, we would also like to thank

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his constant

willingness to apply the core values of the United

Nations directly whenever he has been asked to act

on our behalf. We particularly welcome the five-year

Action Agenda he has set out and the common vision

it offers us. At its heart, the vision is one of tolerance,

respect and understanding among nations.

Sadly, over the past two weeks, we have witnessed

events that present a very different vision. In considering

them, Brunei Darussalam has stated its unreserved

condemnation of their cause. We have equally strongly

advised all our people of our Government’s absolute

rejection of the violence and extremism that have been

their result. Here at the United Nations, we congratulate

the Secretary-General on his statement about the

matter. In doing so, we reaffirm our commitment to the

universal values of tolerance and respect. Similarly, we

uphold the institutions, structures and due processes

of international affairs that this great Organization

embodies.

Turning now to the theme for this year’s general

debate — “Bringing about adjustment or settlement

of international disputes or situations by peaceful

means” — for me the key word is “adjustment”. I think

it is well chosen. It suggests change that is carefully and

gradually done. It does not invite confrontation. For us

in Brunei Darussalam, it matches the main purpose

of this annual meeting. We see it as an opportunity to

express our satisfaction and our concern about how

successfully the United Nations is managing the process

of globalization that we have nationally embraced.

In other words, are we satisfied with things as

they are; or do we see a need for some adjustment?

In answering that question, we would like to start by

expressing considerable satisfaction with many aspects

of the Organization’s work. The media constantly

headline the supposed defects, failures and setbacks of

the United Nations. But beneath all of that we observe

the enormous contribution of the United Nations to the welfare of future generations. I would therefore

like to express our deep satisfaction with the work of

United Nations agencies and international bodies. We

believe they are providing us with the opportunity

to move out of nineteenth-century colonialism and

twentieth-century national interests. In the spirit of

our theme here, they are helping us to adjust to twenty-

first century regionalism and eventually, we hope, to

successful globalism.

I would therefore like to suggest three particular

areas we find especially important. In each, we believe

that the United Nations is helping to create a world

in which the people it represents can look to a better

future — one of hope rather than anguish, confidence

instead of fear, and trust in the place of despair.

The first area is the difficult long-term work being

done on sustainable development. We were impressed

by the results of the Rio de Janeiro United Nations

Conference on Sustainable Development, which was

held in June and built on 20 years of effort. Sustainable

development is now far more than an academic topic;

it is firmly part of the United Nations long-term

development agenda. Work has moved from theory into

many practical ideas, projects and activities.

The second area is covered in the United Nations

Development Programme’s Millennium Development

Goals Report 2012. We especially noted the following

statements by the Secretary-General in his foreword.

The target of reducing extreme poverty by half has

been reached five years ahead of the 2015 deadline.

The target has been achieved on halving the proportion

of people who lack dependable access to improved

sources of drinking water. The conditions for more

than 200 million people living in slums have been

greatly improved. The primary school enrolment of

girls has equalled that of boys. There is accelerating

progress in reducing child and maternal mortality. We

are especially encouraged by his conclusion that the

achievement of the Millennium Development Goals by

2015 is challenging but possible.

The third area is the sum of the ongoing efforts of

United Nations agencies such as the United Nations

Development Programme, UNICEF and the Food

and Agriculture Organization, which are operating in

almost 150 countries. Their work is both wide-ranging

and specific in its emphasis upon the basic components

of everyday life for the people we represent. Success in those three areas means that our

children and grandchildren will live in a world where

ordinary people and their families have a real chance to

live together in hope and confidence. That is the reason

for our satisfaction with the work of the United Nations

as a global Organization. In other words, in terms of

the fundamental work of the United Nations, we see

no need to undertake what our theme here describes as

adjustment.

Rather, it is in the structure of the Organization that

we see a need for some things to be adjusted. The reason

appears clear to many of those of us who are small

both physically and politically. The current structure

appears far too often to be the deep-seated cause of the

headline news I referred to. We see it as a twentieth-

century structure designed to meet twentieth-century

realities. It is personified in the 64 years of suffering

by the ordinary people of Palestine, and in all other

desperate situations in which the root causes of conflict

and confrontation are still buried in the past century.

Simply put, that must change. In our globalized

world, we are all equally interdependent and equally

responsible. But, like many other members in the

Assembly, we believe that the current structure does not

truly reflect those realities. As such, it needs adjusting

so that ancient political fault lines are repaired.

The form we hope it will increasingly take should

resemble that of some regions today that operate on

the basis of consensus, rather than compromise and

confrontation. That is what we have accepted in our

own region of South-East Asia. It is the spirit behind

the present focus of the Association of South-East

Asian Nations (ASEAN) on building a peaceful and

mutually respectful community of nations, regardless

of background, economic resources or national

preoccupations.

That is why we greatly appreciate the strong

support and goodwill that is constantly shown us by our

many partners from outside the region. It is also why

we in Brunei Darussalam, the smallest of all Member

nations, feel honoured and privileged to assume the

chairmanship of ASEAN next year. That organization

is an association of neighbours that have deliberately

chosen to adjust their region’s previous identity. Until

45 years ago, ours was one of the most unstable regions

on Earth, a confrontation point for the national interests

of great Powers and a focal point of the Cold War. Now, our region has adjusted, and is determined to

operate in the interests of its community of 600 million

citizens. It will continue to do so not by conflict or

confrontation and not by compromising national

values, but by peaceful consensus. In the same way, we

hope that the structure of the United Nations can be

gradually and carefully adjusted.