New UN assembly president is the most vocal in years
New UN assembly president is the most vocal in years
By Evelyn Leopold
UNITED NATIONS (Reuter): Razali Ismail of Malaysia assumed the
prestigious post of General Assembly president Tuesday as a man
with a reputation for speaking his mind on nearly every issue
facing the United Nations.
Razali, 57, opposed the Gulf War although he voted in the
Security Council to authorize the use of force. He is a
persistent critic of big power domination, a champion of
development and a leading advocate on environmental issues. He
also displays a knowledge and irreverent disregard for many UN
procedures, mechanisms and meetings.
"He is intelligent, gifted and has the determination to get
things done more than anyone we have seen for a long time," said
Australia's Ambassador Richard Butler. "He is quite
extraordinary."
Razali, Malaysia's UN ambassador since 1988, did not
disappoint in his inaugural speech, chastising his colleagues for
enjoying the good life. "Maybe UN delegates are too distant from
the problems they are charged to address, and the camaraderie of
diplomatic life has softened the edges of critical judgment," he
said.
Most recently he criticized the big powers on nuclear
disarmament, although he ended up voting for the nuclear test ban
treaty, saying: "There is a very clear impression that the club
of nuclear countries are manipulating the entire nuclear
disarmament processes to serve their own agenda."
And his country is nearly alone among developing nations in
opposing a second term by Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-
Ghali, mainly because of his handling of the war in Bosnia. The
assembly appoints a secretary-general on recommendation of the
Security Council, which means in theory it could play a major
role in the selection, but the issue is expected to be settled
before it reaches the assembly.
His new job will be to focus on raising the influence of the
185-seat General Assembly, which in recent years has often been
eclipsed by the 15-member Security Council.
"We must not allow ourselves to cast about for solutions at
the United Nations that will merely keep our own power and
standards of living intact when we are determining the fate and
livelihood of others," he said on Tuesday.
The assembly also deals with the UN financial crisis, caused
mainly by the US$1.6 billion debt of the United States, that
threatens to bring the organization to a halt next year.
At the same time the issue of expanding the Security Council
drags on without any resolution in sight. It is a prime issue for
the assembly president, which Razali addressed earlier.
"Preoccupation with the admission of two members (Germany and
Japan) merely distorts important issues that must (also) be
addressed ... increased workload, heightened expectations,
questionable work methods and the absence of adequate
representation, ambiguous mandates and objectives," he said.
He was a member of the Security Council during the Gulf War
and, along with Cuba, Colombia and Yemen, formed a so-called
"Gang of Four" that unsuccessfully sought to prevent the slide
toward all-out war. He particularly chastised then-U.S. President
George Bush for turning a deaf ear to Iraq's overtures to
withdraw from Kuwait.
Razali was active in forging agreement on difficult issues at
the Rio Earth summit and in 1993 was elected chairman of the
Commission on Sustainable Development, which resulted from that
conference. His bottom line position is that the Third World
cannot continue destroying the environment but industrial nations
must lower their own consumption and be more forthcoming in aid
for developing countries.
"We think maybe the United States thinks it can continue its
excessive consumption lifestyle (by) limiting the South," he said
during the conference.
Before coming to the United Nations, he served in Malaysia's
Foreign Ministry and was posted to India, France, Britain and
Laos. He is married and has three children.
He was nominated for the General Assembly post by the Asian
nations whose turn it was to select the presidency.