Indonesia and the UN

Indonesia and the UN

The United Nations is currently examining proposals for reform
with the objective of making the UN as relevant in this century
as it was in the last.

Recent articles in The Jakarta Post and The New York Times
have highlighted some of the major issues the UN is considering.

In an editorial on Dec. 7 The New York Times commented "The
most widely discussed proposals concern expanding the Security
Council whose permanent membership reflects the power relations
of 1945, not 2004. The UN can only gain in authority and
relevance by adding newly important countries from the developed
and the developing world".

The editorial then went on to say that Japan is obviously
qualified for one of the new permanent seats". Perhaps Japan
would make an excellent permanent member of the UN Security
Council. Yet there is already a disproportionate concentration of
Northern Hemisphere nations in the Security Council.

Equatorial and Southern Hemisphere nations also need
representation if the UN is to function as a truly representative
world organization. With its recent elections as a global model
for democratization, its history of nonalignment with the
collective world thinking that doctrine espoused, and its
profound understanding of the complexities and diversities which
exist within humanity, particularly within the context of multi-
ethnicity and religious tolerance, Indonesia has a strong claim
for membership of the United Nations Security Council.

GREG WARNER

Jakarta