HOW WILL IT FARE THIS YEAR?
The 73rd UNGA is aiming to be relevant to all, but the world body has failed us so often in the past
AJOKE used to make the rounds of the Malaysian campus in the 1970s about the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. Nato, the joke went, stood for No Action, Talk Only. The same can be said about the United Nations now. Unfortunately for the world body, I am not wrong.
Starting Sept 18, the world began descending on New York for the 73rd UN General Assembly. But today is the day to watch as it is the first day of the high-level general debate slotted for nine working days. Some 180 world leaders are expected to address the UNGA. Some will be in New York to pontificate. Others will be there to make inane pronouncements. We shall not lend our ears to such leaders.
But this year’s theme for the general debate gives us some hope: “Making the United Nations Relevant to All People: Global Leadership and Shared Responsibilities for Peaceful, Equitable and Sustainable Societies.” But something tells me it may be deja vu all over again.
There is one man though whom we can count on to push the UN to deliver the promises its founding charter promised 73 years ago: a just and peaceful world for all. Expect Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to do just that on Sept 28 when he takes to the podium.
I will not pretend to know what Dr Mahathir is going to say, but one thing for sure he is going to say it as it is. No embellishment, no sugar coating like he had done at two previous UNGA. I suspect, though, at 93, he will be in his element. Coming fresh from making a New Malaysia at home, he is likely to call for a Brave New World. Is the rest of world ready to heed his call? We shall watch from here in Kuala Lumpur.
They better listen because as the good doctor that he is, he is going to tell some world leaders, especially the Western ones, to swallow some of his pills and see him in the morning.
There is a lot that is ailing the world. And a good place to start is the UNSC, the “achy breaky” arm of the UN which has been the cause of the world’s most serious problems. It is time to put a stop to the practice of five nations deciding the fate of 195 countries. The UNSC is the most undemocratic international body by any measure. Either the UNSC is shown the exit or it submits to a great reshaping. Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa must have representations if the UNSC survives.
For too long, the US, Britain, Russia, China and France have used their veto powers to dictate terms to the world. They have designed an unequal and an unjust world. It is time to put an end to this vile practice.
There are other issues too. Some have remained unsolved for decades. One such is the Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian people. The world will remember Nov 29, 1947, the day when this very UNGA that meets today passed the resolution recommending the partitioning of Palestine. All the deaths and misery that have been visited on the Palestinian began here. UNGA must stand guilty as charged.
We do not need lawyers to interpret the UN Charter to see what the world body promised it would do to bring peace to this world. When UN was signed into existence in June 1945, it was supposed “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”. The UN has seen 73 anniversaries and nothing has been done to end “the scourge of war” for the Palestinians. No action, talk only.
In 1946, just months before the UNGA recommendation, the population of Palestine was almost two million, two-thirds of whom were Arabs. But stealthily initially, and blatantly later, the Zionists brought in European Jews into Palestine, with the support of Britain, to boost the Jewish population. UN records show that Arabs owned 85 per cent of the land in every part of Palestine. Today, the Jews, with the help of the US and Britain, have turned the table on the Arabs by robbing the Palestinians of their land to build settlements for the immigrant Jews.
The Zionist leadership under David Ben-Gurion went on a campaign of ethnic cleansing, expelling the Arabs with a view to creating a demographically “Jewish state”. Both the UN and Britain stood undisturbed, watching the Jews annihilate the Arabs. The annihilation continues today with encouragement from US President Donald Trump.
Trump has gone many steps ahead in squeezing the lives out of the Palestinians as he is dictated by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He has put a stop to all funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA) which provides support for five million Palestinian refugees and their descendants. UNRWA, which was established in 1949 when a million Palestinians were expelled, has been a lifeline for Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan and Syria. At the urgings of his Jewish son-in-law Jared Kushner and Netanyahu, Trump is adding misery to already a miserable life for the Palestinians.
Will things change this time at UNGA? We hope the world leaders have the moral courage to stand up to the US, Israel and other countries that block the path to peace and justice in the world.
There is a lot that is ailing the world. And a good place to start is the UNSC, the “achy breaky” arm of the UN which has been the cause of the world’s most serious problems.