Megawati Calls for Overhaul of UN Security Council Structure
PDIP chairwoman and Indonesia’s fifth president, Megawati Soekarnoputri, has proposed that the structure of the UN Security Council be changed by beginning to include new countries that gained independence after the Second World War.
The proposal was made by Megawati at a forum of scientists and Nobel laureates held at the Megawati Institute in Jakarta on Friday (28/8).
“And I have also repeatedly asked that the structure of the so-called Security Council should no longer be as it is now,” Megawati said in her speech.
Megawati said the desire to change the UN structure had also been expressed by her father, Indonesia’s first president, Sukarno. She said Sukarno believed the world had changed after the Second World War.
Megawati said the UN Security Council, in particular, must begin to involve countries that gained independence after the war. She expressed hope that the proposal would receive support from the forum she initiated together with Timor-Leste President Ramos-Horta.
“Hopefully what I have said will receive extraordinary support,” she said.
Megawati said she also continues to question the role of the Security Council in resolving conflicts or wars between countries.
“As things stand now, in my view as a president, why can wars not be resolved by the United Nations? That is a big question for me,” she said.
Megawati initiated the Luncheon and Discussion with Science for Development Summit, which was attended by ten Nobel laureates, including President Ramos-Horta, as well as one representative of a Nobel Prize-winning organisation.
The Nobel laureates in attendance included Frances H. Arnold, 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; Tim Hunt, 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine; Benjamin List, 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; Robert C. Merton, 1997 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences; Konstantin Novoselov, 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics; Brian P. Schmidt, 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics; Kailash Satyarthi, 2014 Nobel Peace Prize; James A. Robinson, 2024 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences; José Ramos-Horta, 1996 Nobel Peace Prize; and Fredrik Jay Ramsdell, 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Also present was David Beasley, who led the World Food Programme (WFP) when the organisation received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020.
Meanwhile, four Turing Award recipients attended: Jack Dongarra (2021), Whitfield Diffie (2015), Richard S. Sutton (2024), and Gilles Brassard (2025).
The delegation also included a number of internationally recognised scientists, among them Sara Seager, recipient of the 2024 Kavli Prize in Astrophysics; Howard-Yana Shapiro, recipient of the 2015 World Food Prize; Torsten Hoefler, recipient of the 2019 ACM Prize in Computing; and Yannis Ioannidis, ACM Fellow.