Indonesia, 1994

It gives me great pleasure to

extend to you, also on behalf of the Indonesian delegation,

our congratulations on your election as President of the

General Assembly at its forty-ninth session. We are

gratified that the stewardship of this session is entrusted to

a seasoned diplomat and statesman, representing a fraternal

African country with which Indonesia has traditionally

enjoyed close relations of friendship and cooperation.

May I also express our deep appreciation to your

distinguished predecessor, His Excellency Ambassador

Insanally of Guyana, for so capably guiding our work

during a most eventful year.

I join other members in paying tribute to the

Secretary-General for his determined efforts to resolve

various conflict situations across the globe and his

endeavours to make the United Nations a more efficient

and effective instrument of global governance in these

challenging times.

We meet at a time of pervasive change and transition,

a time in which global problems appear less susceptible to

easy solutions, earlier concepts and approaches less relevant

and existing institutions less effective. It is also a time of

contradictions and paradoxes in which resurgent hopes are

nurtured amidst deepening anxieties and bright new

opportunities are overcast by unprecedented challenges in

a world that is coalescing and fragmenting at the same

time.

The euphoria which permeated the international

community at the end of the cold war has dissipated and is

being replaced by a growing sense of uncertainty, disquiet

and disillusionment. With the sobering experience of the

Gulf war and the horrendous incidence of "ethnic

cleansing" and violence in the former Yugoslavia, Somalia

and Rwanda, there is far less certainty now on how best to

respond to the demands and vicissitudes of a world of

deepening interdependence among countries and the

globalization of ever more intricate and inter-linked

problems of peace, security and development. Our greatest

challenge, therefore, is how collectively to fashion a more

effective system of global governance to manage the

massive changes that are transforming the shape and

substance of international relations in the decades ahead.

If the pursuit of this basic objective is to succeed,

there can be no doubt that it should be based on the

recognition of the United Nations as its centre-piece and

principal mechanism. The United Nations is the only

universal institution we have today, and any system of

global governance, to be viable and to achieve common

acceptance by the world community as a whole, must be

firmly rooted in the principles and purposes of the United

Nations Charter and organized on the precepts of

sovereign equality, common interest and benefit, equitably

shared responsibility and joint commitment to global

cooperation.

It is therefore vitally important that the effectiveness

and dynamism of our Organization be ensured and

maintained. Since the United Nations was founded

almost five decades ago, the world has changed almost

beyond recognition, and international problems have

become immensely more complex. The United Nations

today bears a heavier load of responsibilities than it has

ever borne. Ironically, at this time it is also saddled with

a deepening financial crisis. This paradoxical situation,

in which the United Nations is expected to deal with a

multitude of problems while woefully strapped for funds,

cannot continue without adverse consequences for the

world community.

Just as important is the need to ensure that the

United Nations system remains faithful to the democratic

principles on which it was founded and attuned to the

realities of the times. We therefore believe that the

process of reforming the United Nations system should go

beyond merely improving its procedures and practices and

should, inter alia, take into account such essential aspects

as the representation of Member States at all levels of the

system and their effective participation in decision-making

processes. The General Assembly should play a central

role in shaping that process at the same time as its work

is being continually rationalized.

On the question of an increase in the membership of

the Security Council, my delegation has clearly defined its

position on various occasions in the past. The last review

of the Council’s composition was undertaken nearly three

decades ago. Since then there has been a tremendous

increase in the number of United Nations Members, thus

rendering the enlargement of the Council a matter of

urgency. Such an increase should take into account the

principle of equitable geographic representation and

accommodate the interests and concerns of the developing

countries, which comprise the overwhelming majority in

the Organization. Furthermore, my delegation supports

the proposal to increase the number of permanent

members of the Security Council. In this respect, it is

our view that, while the principle of geographic

representation is important, it should not be the only

criterion to determine eligibility for new permanent

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members. We believe that other objective criteria are

equally important: political, economic and demographic

realities; a country’s capability and record of contributing

to the promotion of peace, security and economic

development, both regionally and globally; and the

commitment of States to assume the responsibilities

inherent in such a status. In these endeavours our goals

must remain the promotion of transparency, legitimacy,

accountability and efficiency.

In the economic and social fields, as well as in

development cooperation, it has been said that the United

Nations system operates without sufficient coordination and

coherence. However, in addressing this concern, we do not

see the particular merit of a proposal for the establishment

of an economic security council at this time. Rather, the

Economic and Social Council should be further

strengthened and should be allowed to assert its full role as

envisioned in the United Nations Charter. In this regard, I

think it would be productive to invite the Ministers

responsible for finance and development planning, or other

relevant Ministers, to participate in the deliberations on

important development issues at the Economic and Social

Council’s high-level segment meetings. The United

Nations should also continue to strengthen its coordination

with the Bretton Woods institutions so as to achieve

increased policy coherence and to enhance development

cooperation.

Although the demise of the cold war has reduced the

threat of nuclear war, it has not eliminated the danger posed

by nuclear weapons. Nuclear disarmament remains an

imperative. It is hoped that with further success in the

critical area of limiting and reducing armaments, the

quantitative growth of nuclear weapons will soon be

curbed. Recent encouraging developments include a

significant reduction of the world’s two largest nuclear

arsenals as a result of the successful conclusion of the

Treaty on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic

Offensive Arms (START II) and of the fact that a

moratorium on nuclear tests continues to be observed by

most of the nuclear-weapon States.

In this context, the importance of a comprehensive

test-ban treaty as a major step towards nuclear disarmament

and as an urgent measure to protect the environment cannot

be overemphasized. For this reason, the Conference on

Disarmament has been given a clear and explicit mandate

to negotiate a comprehensive ban on nuclear testing.

Unfortunately, lack of political will on the part of some

nuclear-weapon States has created obstacles to progress in

this vital work. It is essential that serious and concerted

efforts be undertaken in the Conference on Disarmament

in conjunction with the broader multilateral endeavours in

the Amendment Conference on the partial test-ban Treaty

to ensure the conclusion of a universal and effectively

verifiable treaty within a fixed time-frame. Such a treaty,

we believe, would serve as a truly credible instrument of

a nuclear non-proliferation regime.

The convening of the 1995 review and extension

Conference on the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)

provides a unique opportunity to make a sober assessment

of its implementation. It is beyond doubt that the

question of the extension of the NPT is linked to such

critical issues as nuclear disarmament, the dissemination

of nuclear know-how for peaceful purposes, security

assurances to non-nuclear States and the establishment of

nuclear-weapon-free zones. Hence, the issues we face

next year should not be oversimplified to a mere choice

between limited and unlimited duration or between

conditional and unconditional extension of the NPT. The

longevity of the Treaty will ultimately depend upon the

resolution of these multifarious issues and the sincerity of

the nuclear-weapon States in fulfilling their obligations.

Regional and subregional organizations continue to

make substantial contributions to the cause of

disarmament and peace. In the Asia-Pacific region, the

Regional Forum of the Association of South-East Asian

Nations (ASEAN) was launched last July in Bangkok,

reflecting the desire of the countries of the region to

ensure a peaceful and stable political and security

environment for their peoples. This forum is unique

because it was not established in response to a crisis but,

rather, as an exercise in preventive diplomacy to manage

strategic change in such a way that a stable relationship

among the major Powers as well as among the regional

Powers will evolve gradually and peacefully over the next

decade. At the same time ASEAN is intensifying its

efforts to realize its blueprint for a zone of peace,

freedom and neutrality with a South-East Asian nuclear

weapon-free zone as its component part. Its realization

would be a major step towards stable peace in the region

and a significant regional contribution to global

disarmament and non-proliferation.

Although the Asia-Pacific region now enjoys relative

peace, it is by no means free of tension and the anxiety

of potential conflict. Among the actual and potential

problems that the region must face is the persistence of

inter-State disputes, especially territorial disputes and

overlapping claims of sovereignty which could intensify

if their potential for conflict were not effectively

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managed. That was why in its Manila Declaration of 1992,

ASEAN stressed that its Treaty of Amity and Cooperation

should serve as a basis for the establishment of a code of

international conduct in the area and thus called for the

peaceful settlement of disputes and the non-use of force.

The positive response of the major Powers and of the

countries of the region towards the Treaty serving as such

a code of conduct at the first meeting of the ASEAN

Regional Forum makes it even more necessary to promote

cooperative efforts among countries that have overlapping

claims of sovereignty in the South China Sea in order to

ensure the peaceful development of the area.

As regards the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula,

the agreement reached last August between the

Governments of the United States and the Democratic

People’s Republic of Korea was a major step towards a

resolution of this problem. We continue to believe that this

complex issue can be resolved only through the exercise of

mutual restraint and through sincere and sustained dialogue

and negotiations.

In the Middle East, the pursuit of peace continues to

gather momentum and promises to herald a new era. The

historic Declaration of Principles signed between the

Palestine Liberation Organization and the Government of

Israel over a year ago has been followed by the Accord

signed in Cairo last March, which laid down the modalities

for transition to Palestinian self-government in the Gaza

Strip and Jericho and thus paved the way for the triumphant

return of President Yasser Arafat to these areas. Yet

another breakthrough is the signing of the Washington

Declaration between Jordan and Israel which ended the

state of war between them and opens the way for the

conclusion of a comprehensive peace treaty.

While my delegation welcomes these positive

developments, we are also acutely conscious of the

formidable challenges that still lie ahead. Palestinian

autonomy should now be widened to include the economic,

social and cultural aspects of national life, and Palestinian

self-rule should now be extended throughout occupied

Palestinian territories. Furthermore, the international

community should expedite its promised assistance to the

Palestinian Authority in rebuilding the necessary

infrastructures. It is also self-evident that progress on the

other tracks of Arab-Israeli negotiations is a sine qua non

for a comprehensive settlement of the Middle East question

on the basis of Security Council resolutions 242 (1967)

338 (1973) and 425 (1978). The ultimate guarantee for

peace is Israel’s withdrawal from all occupied territories,

including the Golan Heights and southern Lebanon.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the atrocities, senseless

killings of civilians and "ethnic cleansing" perpetrated by

the Bosnian Serbs have continued unabated. The pleas of

the Bosnian Government for effective international

intervention or at least the lifting of the ill-conceived

arms embargo have gone unheeded. The savagery of the

conflict has few historical precedents and the ambivalence

of the international community has contributed to its

perpetuation and the ever-present threat of a spill-over.

By rejecting the latest peace plan proposed by the Contact

Group, the Bosnian Serbs have dealt a serious set-back to

international efforts to end the conflict.

The carnage cannot just go on. It is incumbent upon

the Security Council to unequivocally pronounce itself on

the non-applicability of resolution 713 (1991) concerning

the imposition of an arms embargo on Bosnia and

Herzegovina. Furthermore, in the face of the continued

intransigence of the Bosnian Serbs, the Security Council

must take strong and determined measures in order to

ensure the realization of the peace plan. Concurrently,

the international community should consider devising a

mechanism for negotiations, including the convening of

an appropriately structured international conference, to

deal with the wider aspects of the conflict in and around

the former Yugoslavia, leading ultimately to a

comprehensive solution that would enable the people in

that region to live securely in peace, free from aggression,

domination and external interference.

Earlier this year, the people of South Africa finally

put an end to apartheid by holding the first-ever

non-racial elections and by subsequently installing the

first, democratically elected government under President

Nelson Mandela. We have all joyously welcomed this

historic event as well as South Africa’s resumption of its

rightful place in the community of nations. Indonesia

looks forward to developing close and mutually beneficial

cooperation with the new Government and the people of

South Africa.

Elsewhere in Africa, however, we were deeply

anguished to witness in Rwanda the rampage of violence

which has triggered an exodus of refugees to

neighbouring countries and has brought about a

humanitarian crisis of catastrophic proportions. With the

end of fighting and bloodshed and the establishment of

the new government in Kigali, we hope that the parties

concerned will resume the process of national

21

reconciliation based on the Arusha Agreement, which

indeed provides an appropriate framework for the purpose.

The situation in Somalia continues to be marked by

recurrent outbreaks of violence and a deterioration of the

security situation. We remain convinced that a solution to

the civil strife in that country can only be achieved through

sustained dialogue among all the parties, under the auspices

of the United Nations and the Organization of African

Unity (OAU). In this context, we hope for the early

convening of the national reconciliation conference in

accordance with the Declaration of last March by the

leaders of Somalia.

The entry into force of the United Nations Convention

on the Law of the Sea next month represents the

culmination of efforts begun over two decades ago to create

a new order for the oceans. The Convention, which

Indonesia ratified in 1985, will make a significant

contribution in promoting the peaceful uses of the seas and

in ensuring their equitable utilization.

I do agree with the report of the Secretary-General

entitled "An Agenda for Development" (A/48/935) when it

cites the economy as being the engine of progress and of

development as a whole. If I may carry the metaphor a

little further, it may be appropriate to say that at present the

world economy is a flawed engine that has stalled but is

beginning to warm up again. It is flawed by the

imbalances and inequities that have distorted one of its

most important parts, the relationship between the

developed and the developing economies. It has broken

down in a long and devastating recession, but in recent

times it has shown signs of recovery.

However, the aggregate statistics of world economic

growth often conceal as much as they reveal. As aptly put

by the 1994 World Economic and Social Survey, the world

economy remains a complex mosaic of sharp contrasts, in

which most developing countries are often too weak and

too vulnerable to be able to compete successfully in the

world market, thus risking their further marginalization and

decline into extreme poverty. Hence, apart from the need

to sustain non-inflationary, global economic growth, the

urgent imperative continues to be the eradication of poverty

and the acceleration of the socio-economic development of

the developing countries on a sustained and sustainable

basis.

If the engine for global progress and development is

to carry mankind to a brighter future in the next century,

then its parts must be brought into a more balanced,

synergistic relationship and its functioning be made more

effective and efficient. We have no alternative but to

forge a new partnership for development involving all

nations, developed and developing. It is therefore crucial

that we bring to full realization General Assembly

resolution 48/165 on the "Renewal of the dialogue on

strengthening international economic cooperation for

development through partnership". By adopting this

resolution, the international community has acknowledged

the indispensability of the principles of genuine

interdependence, of mutual interest and benefit, and of

equitably shared responsibility, in a new spirit of global

partnership.

As a necessary corollary to this North-South

partnership, South-South cooperation has become even

more compelling, for the developing countries are called

upon to shoulder an increasing share of the responsibility

for world growth and development. We look forward to

the report of the Secretary-General on this issue and also

to the deliberations leading to the adoption of "An

Agenda for Development".

As many advocated during the World Hearings on

Development in June this year, as well as at the High-

Level Segment Meeting of the Economic and Social

Council, the Agenda should be action-oriented and should

present an overall policy and priority framework for a

balanced and comprehensive approach to development.

It should reflect universal recognition and acceptance of

the United Nations as the only Organization capable of

dealing with issues of development as well as with issues

of peace and security. It will also be necessary for the

agencies, bodies and programmes of the United Nations

to be organized in such a way as to enable them to

implement the Agenda in an effective, efficient and

coordinated manner, without necessarily creating a new

body for this purpose. Obviously, there will be the need

to generate the required political will in support of the

Agenda. We look forward to seeing "An Agenda for

Development" serve as a fitting complement to "An

Agenda for Peace".

One of the most important recent developments in

the international economic sphere is the completion of the

Uruguay Round with the signing of its Final Act in

Marrakesh and the agreement to establish the World

Trade Organization (WTO). Indonesia and the other

developing countries have accepted the Uruguay Round

package, in spite of the heavy obligations and challenges

that it entails, because they anticipate that considerable

opportunities for increased market access and indeed for

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world economic growth and prosperity will now be

forthcoming. They also expect that the Uruguay Round

package will provide the long-sought assurance of a

rule-based and non-discriminatory multilateral trading

system, free from the arbitrariness of unilateral action. Yet,

we must confess to being concerned at the possibility of a

tardy and long-drawn-out process of implementing the Final

Act. Such an eventuality will negate much of its original

intent and rob it of its positive impact, as was, regrettably,

the experience with the Tokyo Round. Furthermore, the

attempts to overload the WTO work programme with social

clauses in our view represent protectionism in a thin guise

and tend to nullify the few remaining comparative

advantages of developing countries. For this reason we feel

strongly that the process of ratification and implementation

of the Uruguay Round agreements should not be linked to

new issues that have little or no relevance to the

development of a new international trading regime. All

nations are called upon to marshal their political will and to

accept inevitable shifts in comparative advantage without

transferring the burden of adjustment to weaker economies.

Had relationships between developed and developing

countries been more equitable, we would not today be faced

with the problem of developing countries staggering under

their external debt burden. While aggregate debt indicators

have undoubtedly improved, mainly in response to various

debt-relief measures, the external debt crisis still persists

especially in the least developed countries where debt ratios

have significantly worsened and continue to hamper the

prospects for economic growth and development. A

durable solution to the perennial debt question can only be

secured through a development-oriented strategy formulated

within the framework of shared responsibility and genuine

partnership. Thus, rather than taking a one-sided view of

the causes of external debt, there is an urgent need for all

sides involved to adopt a coordinated approach.

As Chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement,

Indonesia has given the highest priority to resolving this

crisis. President Soeharto took the initiative of conveying

a memorandum on the debt of developing countries to the

Chairman of the Group of Seven on the eve of their Tokyo

Summit last year, inviting the G-7 to engage in dialogue on

this issue. We are encouraged that the G-7 responded

positively to the Non-Aligned Movement on this issue in

Tokyo and then again last July in Naples, where, inter alia,

it urged the Paris Club to pursue its efforts to improve the

debt treatment of the poorest and most indebted countries

and, where appropriate, to reduce the stock of debt as well

as to increase concessionality for those countries facing

special difficulties. Moreover, Indonesia has also recently

hosted a ministerial meeting of non-aligned countries on

debt and development, involving the most heavily

indebted least developed countries. The meeting called

upon the international community, particularly donors and

international financial institutions, inter alia, to adopt a

common set of principles for future debt negotiations,

which include a once-and-for-all arrangement for settling

all outstanding debts, and the application of debt

reduction to all categories of debt, including multilateral

debts. A report of the meeting has been submitted to the

Secretary-General for possible consideration at this

session of the General Assembly.

As a firm believer in the rights of peoples to

development, including social development, Indonesia is

deeply committed to participating actively in the World

Summit for Social Development. The World Conference

on Women in 1995 equally deserves total support from

the international community. Indonesia is committed to

the adoption of a conference declaration calling for de

facto as well as de jure equality between men and

women, the integration of gender concerns into

sustainable development, and a programme of action to

achieve those goals.

As we prepare ourselves to commemorate the fiftieth

anniversary of the Organization next year, I sense that

despite the frustration of our hopes after the end of the

cold war, we are about to open a window on a future that

truly does not belong to the nations of the North or the

South, the West or the East, but to undivided humanity.

Perhaps the advent of wisdom is always a gradual

process. First we came to the realization that the human

race could not survive in a state of cold war against itself;

that our problems are global and systemic in nature, and

thus that truly effective solutions to these problems should

be integral and so comprehensive they must be carried out

by a global partnership.

Without that partnership, we should now realize, our

bright hopes are unattainable. As we work to complete

"An Agenda for Development" so as to match it with "An

Agenda for Peace", we are actually etching the fine

details of our common vision of a better and more unified

world. It is said that the future belongs to those who

have a clear vision of it. That may be so, but only if we

are faithful to that vision, persevere in its pursuit, and

thereby prove ourselves worthy of it.