Malaysia, 2011

I would like to take this

opportunity to congratulate you, Sir, on your election

as President of the General Assembly at its sixty-sixth

session. I have no doubt that, under your able

leadership, the Assembly will be able to complete its

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deliberations and proceedings successfully. In that

respect, I wish to assure you of Malaysia’s full support

for your presidency. Permit me also to congratulate His

Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon on his reappointment as

Secretary-General.

The theme you have chosen for the general

debate, “The role of mediation in the settlement of

disputes by peaceful means”, is apt, fitting and timely.

Indeed, the United Nations itself was established as an

instrument of mediation to promote peace, security and

stability among the nations of the world. Many in this

body have spoken about the importance of settling

disputes through mediation. Malaysia shares that view.

In the final analysis, peace can be achieved only

if people are willing to engage in mediation. Now,

more than ever before, mediation must be made to

work in the Middle East crisis, as it is the only option

available for the achievement of lasting peace.

Year after year after year, we have hoped for a

peaceful and just resolution of the Palestinian issue. In

the time that we have spent hoping, we have also come

to realize that mediation is the only means of providing

a sustainable resolution to all conflicts and crises. As

such, all of us have a role to play in ensuring that it is

effective. Patience and prudence have their merits, but

patience and prudence must not result in paralysis. This

body and the Security Council have adopted numerous

resolutions on Palestine, yet there has been no tangible

outcome.

We support the application of the Palestinians to

the United Nations and welcome the readiness of both

parties to hold talks on the basis of the existing

international legal framework. In that connection,

Malaysia fully supports the legitimate rights of the

Palestinian people to an independent State of Palestine,

based on the two-State solution, taking into account the

security concerns of both parties.

For some time now, our world has been battered

by unprecedented political challenges, devastating

national calamities and financial crises. During that

time, our institutions and mechanisms have seemed

incapable of handling these challenges and the pace at

which they surface. To compound the situation, while

we address long-standing causes of international

instability, non-traditional threats to peace and security,

such as terrorism, pose additional challenges.

As we share the grief of those who lost their

loved ones in the 9/11 attack 10 years ago, we must

strengthen our resolve to eradicate terrorism in all its

forms and manifestations. That can be achieved only

by addressing the root causes of terrorism, which

would cut off sympathy and support for those

committing acts of terrorism. We must at the same time

win the hearts and minds of the people to ensure that

our victory over terrorism is not short-lived.

But the winning of hearts and minds is only half

of what I would call the battle of perceptions. The

other half consists of combating expressions of

extremist sentiments. Despite our continuing efforts to

promote world peace and harmony, we still witness the

increasing trend to perpetuate and fuel Islamophobia.

There have been attempts to pit Islam against the West,

demonize Islam and to link Islam with terrorism. Those

irresponsible acts further intensify the divide between

the broader Muslim world and the West.

The real issue is not between Muslims and

non-Muslims but between moderates and extremists in

all religions, whether Islam, Christianity or Judaism. It

is in light of the growing tide of extremist sentiments

around the globe that the Prime Minister of Malaysia

called for the creation of a global movement of

moderates at this Assembly last year (see A/65/PV.19).

This clarion call has come at the right moment in

history. We must ensure that the voices of moderation,

which currently constitute the silent majority, prevail

over those of extremism in efforts to find solutions to

the growing challenges faced by the international

community.

There has been wide acceptance of this

movement at the highest levels of global political

leadership, such as the Asia-Europe Meeting and the

East Asia Summit. More recently, the Association of

Southeast Asian Nations has endorsed the movement of

moderates as its contribution to global developments.

Malaysia will work diligently to ensure that the global

movement of moderates will complement the ongoing

activities of the United Nations Alliance of

Civilizations and other intercultural and interfaith

dialogues so that moderation will triumph over

extremism.

We cannot turn a blind eye to the needs of States

that are severely affected by natural calamities. The

situation in Somalia has touched the hearts of many.

For our part, Malaysia last month pledged $1 million to

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the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Trust

Fund for Somalia and dispatched a humanitarian

mission to mitigate the sufferings of our Somali

brothers and sisters. A valiant Malaysian son lost his

life carrying out this mission. However, such incidents

will never deter us from continuing to provide

humanitarian assistance to all other countries in need.

In the field of the environment, we seem to be

losing focus. We know that we are not lacking in good

plans, but that we lack political will and the means to

implement those agreed plans. As much as we are

concerned about implementation failures, we are also

concerned at the paralysing differences in on the areas

of institutional framework and sustainable

development. The failure of the Commission on

Sustainable Development to deliver a successful

outcome last May clearly demonstrated that.

The lack of progress and unwillingness to honour

commitments under the United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change is another example. We

must ensure that the principle of common but

differentiated responsibilities, coupled with historical

responsibility, is enshrined in all our endeavours to

achieve a successful conclusion on climate change

negotiations and sustainable development.

In moving towards the United Nations

Conference on Sustainable Development, there are new

thoughts on strengthening the institutional frameworks

for the environment. If the current institutional

frameworks are unable to meet the daunting

environmental challenges, we may have to look at new

mechanisms that are inclusive and participatory, with

equitable decision-making responsibilities.

Nuclear disarmament occupies a central role in

the work of the United Nations. This is reflected by the

fact that the very first resolution adopted by the

General Assembly spoke, among other things, of “the

elimination from national armaments of atomic

weapons and of all other major weapons adaptable to

mass destruction” (resolution 1(I), para. 5 (c)). Yet

65 years on, it remains a silent dream. All States need

to do their part in order to achieve more substantive

progress in this area.

Malaysia is committed to working with other

Member States to realize the goal of a nuclear-weapon-

free world. We will continue to advocate the total

elimination of nuclear weapons through a nuclear

weapons convention. To progress further on that issue,

consensus is required on commencing the multilateral

negotiations process. This, in turn, will require good

faith on the part of the States possessing nuclear

weapons. I call on all those States to demonstrate such

good faith.

It is apparent that the current international

financial architecture is unable to cope with recent

developments in the world financial markets. The

World Bank has warned that we are about to enter a

danger zone. We need a new financial architecture that

will be transparent, equitable, representational and

participatory and that will reduce volatility. Lessons

can be learned from the economies of developing

countries that embarked on economic reform and

strengthened their financial institutions following the

Asian financial crisis. Let us put pride aside and learn

from each other.

In our quest to move up the value chain and

enhance competitiveness, Malaysia has embarked on

its own transformation programmes based on the

concept of One Malaysia, the Government transformation

programme, the economic transformation programme

and the new economic model. As part of the

transformation programme, Malaysia has taken a giant

leap in reforming its internal security and emergency

laws, which will be replaced by legislation to prevent

subversive action, terrorism and organized crime.

Malaysia is transforming and reforming itself to

better adapt to a changing global landscape. We believe

that the United Nations must do the same. We would

like to see a comprehensive reform of the United

Nations so that it will be able to face current realities

and address present challenges. Most particularly, the

Security Council should be comprehensively reformed

to make it more legitimate, representative, democratic

and transparent. The Council must be effective,

transparent and accountable to the larger United

Nations membership in order to strengthen its

mediation capacities. It must not remain beholden to

the veto holders.

In that respect, I return to the President’s theme.

We need to adopt mediation in the search for peace. To

that, I would add the principles of transformation and

moderation. A combination of mediation, transformation

and moderation will constitute a winning formula to

realize lasting world peace. Let us take up the

challenge with the fortitude required and together

implement it for a united and a better world for all.