Restructuring the United Nations

The United Nations (UN) is currently examining proposals for reform through a panel of notables, with an objective to make the world body as relevant in this century as it was in the last.

In an editorial on Dec. 7, The New York Times said: "The most widely discussed proposals in recent report 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 went on to say that "Japan is obviously qualified for one of the new permanent seats proposed by the panel".

In this reader's opinion, Japan would make an excellent permanent member of the UN Security Council. Yet, the Security Council already has a disproportionate concentration of northern hemisphere nations. Equatorial and southern hemisphere nations also need representation if the UN is to function as a truly representative world organization.

Indonesia -- with its recent general elections standing as a global model of democratization, its history of nonalignment with collective world views espoused by doctrine and its profound understanding of the complexities and diversities that exist within humanity -- also has a strong claim to permanent membership of the UN Security Council.

GREG WARNER Jakarta