Revamp the UN<\/p>\n
In her speech in front of the 58th United Nations General
\nAssembly in New York last Tuesday, President Megawati
\nSoekarnoputri rightly raised two issues of great significance to
\nthe current conflict-ridden global community, as well as to
\nIndonesia in its fragile transition toward democracy.<\/p>\n
The first issue the President raised, concerned the principle
\nof multilateralism. As UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has
\npointed out, the UN has \"come to a fork in the road.\" In the last
\n10 months at least, there has been a growing concern in countries
\naround the globe as to the effectiveness of the UN in combating
\nterrorism, genocide and the spread of nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n
During that period, the world has helplessly and painfully
\nwatched the dissolution of the Security Council consensus on
\nconfronting Iraq, the slow response to massacres in the eastern
\nCongo and Liberia, and the Aug. 19 bombing attack on the Baghdad
\nheadquarters of the UN that killed 22 people, including the world
\nbody's chief representative, Sergio Vieira de Mello.<\/p>\n
Instead of empowering the legitimate multilateralism of the
\nworld organization on which world peace and stability have rested
\nfor the last six decades, the United States of America -- which
\nengineered and supervised the birth of the UN at the end of World
\nWar II -- has chosen a unilateral path in handling perceived
\nthreats to peace.<\/p>\n
Kofi Annan rightly accused the U.S. of endangering world peace
\nwith its policy of pre-emptive force. That policy represents a
\nfundamental challenge to the principles of the UN. Moreover, as
\nPresident Megawati emphasized, the Iraq war has created far more
\nproblems than those it intended to solve.<\/p>\n
Indeed, the UN is in need of fundamental reform. Fundamental
\nweaknesses in the architecture of the institution must be
\nremedied if the global community wishes it to retain its
\neffectiveness. Its members should embark immediately on the tough
\npolitical work of revamping the institution, beginning with the
\nmost crucial part, that is, the overhaul of the Security Council.<\/p>\n
This is not a question of either expanding it or making it
\nsmaller. Rather, the fact is, that the status of the five
\npermanent members of the Security Council is the obsolete
\nheritage of the post-World War II era. It no longer reflects the
\ncurrent balance of world powerhouses and as such erodes its own
\nlegitimacy and authority.<\/p>\n
President Megawati, as the leader of the world's most populous
\nMuslim nation, appropriately chose another relevant issue in her
\nspeech: international terrorism. She correctly aired the
\ngrievances expressed by many other Muslim countries, that they
\nare suffering from a bad image because they are perceived to be
\n\"hotbeds\" of terrorism.<\/p>\n
During the last few years, Indonesia has painfully borne the
\nbrunt of a chain of terrorist bombing attacks on religious
\nbuildings and public places, including the horrendous bombing
\nattacks in Bali on Oct. 12 of last year and the JW Marriott Hotel
\nearly last month. President Megawati noted that the Indonesian
\npolice had arrested dozens of people allegedly involved in the
\ntwo incidents and that two perpetrators of the Bali bombing have
\nbeen sentenced to death. Major Muslim organizations in Indonesia
\nhave condemned the terrorist attacks.<\/p>\n
The outside world -- especially the United States, Australia
\nand other western countries -- however, have failed to appreciate
\nand adequately support the seriousness of Indonesian efforts to
\ncombat terrorism. Instead, what the country gets is bashing,
\ncastigating and the label of \"hotbed of terrorism\". Indonesia
\nfinds it very difficult to convince the world that it has become
\nthe \"victim\" of terrorist attacks.<\/p>\n
To make things worse, the world's \"Western\" leaders tend to
\noverlook the root issue behind the terrorist attacks. President
\nMegawati was right to stress that the \"unfair and one-sided\"
\nhandling of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the weapons of
\nmass destruction issue, that triggered the recent Iraq war, have
\nprovided fertile ground for violence.<\/p>\n
The global war against terrorism will not achieve its goal as
\nlong as it does not attack the root issue behind it. That is, the
\nunfair treatment of Muslim countries in many international
\nconflicts. The injustice and unfairness have been too glaring for
\nthe world to ignore. To quote James Wolfensohn in his opening
\nspeech at the World Bank annual meeting in Dubai earlier this
\nweek: \"The whole planet is not balanced. Too few control too
\nmuch, and too many have too little to hope for.\"<\/p>\n
The global war against terrorism cannot be separated from the
\nglobal war against injustice and unfairness. That should be the
\nunderlying theme in revamping the UN.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/revamp-the-un-1447899208",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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