RI throws its weight behind UN reform

RI throws its weight behind UN reform

Adianto P. Simamora and Ivy Susanti, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono reiterated Indonesia's full
support for reform at the United Nations during a meeting with UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan on Friday.

Presidential spokesman Dino Pati Djalal said that reform
within the UN, which includes the broadening of representation on
the Security Council, would allow Indonesia to boost its
diplomatic stature.

"Our position is clear, we support UN reform. Our support is
based on our view that it is an important aspect in our
multilateral diplomacy, particularly for international
negotiations," he said.

Earlier in his address to the Asian-African Summit, Annan
urged the Asian and African leaders to back his campaign for UN
reform, saying the developing world could benefit from his
proposals on trade and debt relief, and the UN's increasing role
in improving security and protecting human rights.

"The time has come for action -- for concrete, measurable
steps, leading to a quantum leap in resources for development,"
Annan said at the opening of the summit on Friday.

"I have called on every developed country that has not done so
to commit to a timetable to reach, by 2015, the agreed target of
providing 70 cents in official development assistance for every
US$100 of gross national income."

The secretary general released last month a 63-page report
proposing the most wide-ranging shakeup of the UN since its
creation in 1945.

"If we are to make our world fairer, freer and safer for all
its inhabitants, the institutions of the United Nations should
reflect the world of 2005, not 1945 -- particularly the Security
Council. I believe the time is approaching when the member states
should take a decision to make the council more representative,
including by strengthening the representation of developing
countries."

Annan also appealed for support for the establishment of two
new intergovernmental bodies, the Peacebuilding Commission and
the Human Rights Council.

Forty-two heads of state/government and more than 50 other
officials including vice presidents, ministers and heads of
international organizations, attended the two-day summit.

Overall, 80 nations were represented at the summit, a
commemoration of the 1955 Asia-Africa Conference that paved the
way for the Non-aligned Movement, a neutral force in the Cold War
period. A commemoration of the Golden Jubilee of the Asia-Africa
Conference in Bandung, West Java, will cap the events.

Annan briefed foreign ministers and officials of the
participating countries on Thursday on the proposed reform.

Ali Alatas, Annan's special envoy to promote UN reform, said
after the meeting that some officials still misunderstood the
reform concept.

"There were also problems regarding the states' position
toward some issues. We will leave them for further negotiations.
But they are only a few countries that have different views," he
said.

Alatas added that to date, there were only two Asian
candidates for the position of secretary general: former Thai
foreign affairs minister Surakiart Sathirathai and a Sri Lankan
UN diplomat Jayantha Dhanapala.

"The Asian officials will still discuss the candidates, they
haven't endorsed anything," he said.