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.