Significance of Malaysia's UN role

Significance of Malaysia's UN role

By Johan Saravanamuttu

Among small-sized countries Malaysia has a disproportionate role
in the United Nations.

On its 51st anniversary, the United Nations has come under
intense scrutiny by its 185 member states seeking to refurbish it
with an authority and efficacy that they believe befits its
contemporary role. Malaysia has been particularly vocal and
insistent on reforming the United Nations. Why is this so and
what are Malaysia's objectives in doing so?

Let us begin by briefly looking back at Malaysia's engagement
with the UN in the past. Under the first premier, Tunku Abdul
Rahman, particular emphasis was placed on the UN as an instrument
for promoting the goals of a newly independent state. The Tunku
administration always stressed the vulnerability of small states
such as Malaya and their dependence on the UN for influence and
protection. It was on that basis that Malaya sent some 1,413
troops to the first UN peacekeeping operation in the Congo in
1960.

By the time of the premiership of Tun Abdul Razak, from 1970
until 1975, the UN arguably had receded into the background and
ASEAN, formed in 1967, had become the main instrument for
promoting Malaysia's foreign policy objectives. So too, in the
period of the third premier, Tun Hussein Onn, who held the reins
of government until 1981.

As the fourth premier, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad initially paid
little attention to a UN that was probably to his mind a lost
cause, overburdened and stymied as it was by the impasse of the
Cold War.

Although Mahathir in his maiden UN speech in 1982 made much of
the issue of the Antarctic as the common heritage of mankind, it
was only after the end of the Cold War, with the onset of the
Cambodian peace process at the end of the 1980s, the traumatic
1991 Gulf War and the imbroglio in Bosnia-Herzegovina, that the
UN took an enhanced role in Malaysia's foreign policy. By March
1995, Malaysia had some 2,555 officers and men serving in the UN
missions abroad, including 1,512 in Bosnia.

Malaysia's UN engagement has reached a peak of sorts with the
appointment of former UN Permanent Representative Tan Sri Razali
Ismail as the President of the 51st General Assembly this year.
In his speech to the General Assembly, Mahathir predictably made
all the various calls for reform of the UN that Malaysia has been
noted to advocate. Malaysia has repeatedly stated that it would
like to see an end to the veto in the Security Council but
failing which, says Mahathir, "We may have a kind of veto power
which allows more than one country to cast the veto, probably
with the support of one or two non-permanent members".

The Malaysian leader had also called for the resignation of
the UN Secretary General at the height of the Bosnian crisis and
recently revealed that Malaysia would not support Dr. Boutrous-
Boutrous Ghali's reappointment. More specifically, Foreign
Minister Abdullah Badawi has called for a package dealing with
the issue of new permanent and non-permanent members of the
Security Council and a reforming of the decision-making process.
He has revealed that Malaysia would not object to Germany and
Japan becoming permanent members but would insist on more
regional representation.

In a speech to the General Assembly this year, Mahathir
opined: "We find the inequities of power-sharing in the UN to be
intolerable and view with alarm prevailing trends to weaken this
organization further. Already the center of gravity for all
principal economic decisions that affect developing countries is
vested in the undemocratic Bretton Woods institutions, the WTO
and of course the self-appointed Group of Seven". He went on to
insist that these institutions become accountable to the larger
and more democratic General Assembly of the UN.

On the nuclear issue, Malaysia took part in this year's World
Court hearing for an advisory opinion on the legality of the use
of nuclear weapons, with submissions given through its attorney
general and UN Permanent Representative.

All the above were attempts to buttress and enhance the role
of an international organization in the face of major power
recalcitrance on the crucial questions of global concern. They
were by the same token a direct critique of the UN for its
failure to bring the major powers to heel on such questions. It
is apparent from this that Malaysia would like the world to move
in the direction of greater "democratization" and power-sharing
in global governance. However, this still begs the question of
what really prompted the new Malaysian foreign policy
initiatives. Were there broader policy goals and political
motives beyond those that meet the eye?

It would seem that Malaysia's current crop of leaders, led by
Mahathir, have exerted more than a proportionate role in the UN.
The tone of the Prime Minister's speech at the UN, and the
sustained Malaysian involvement in UN peacekeeping operations
carry the message that Malaysia has positioned itself as
spokesperson for the South, the developing countries, the Moslem
world and Asia -- all in one stroke.

It is, however, perhaps utopian to think that by self-
consciously championing the underdogs, one can automatically
bring about the requisite changes. The world, unfortunately, is a
more reflexive place than one imagines, with political actors who
are hardened by realpolitik and seasoned in political
machinations. Malaysia should realize that what it proposes, the
real world disposes. This notwithstanding, all well-meaning
Malaysians cannot but feel proud that their country is doing a
yeoman's service for the cause of more democratic and humane
governance across the globe.

Professor Johan Saravanamuttu is Dean, School of Social Sciences,
Universiti Sains Malaysia.