Work with civil society, diplomats urged

KUALA LUMPUR: National interest will be best served when diplomats work together with civil society organisations and NGOs to advance shared interests as they are among the most significant players in the international realm today, said Sultan of Perak Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah (pix).

He said working with NGOs may not always be easy, especially in the domestic scene.

“Things can get uncomfortable when governments become sensitive to critical scrutiny by assertive and vocal NGOs.

“This is especially the case in developing countries with authoritarian tendencies or where democratic practices are still evolving. The existence of genuine political and socioeconomic issues can aggravate the matters further,” Sultan Nazrin said in his speech themed “21st Century Diplomacy” at the Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations.

He said NGOs have mushroomed across the world in the past three decades and are active in a wide variety of areas, including the support of humanitarian causes such as education and health, environmental protection and poverty eradication, elimination of corruption, and the promotion of democracy and human rights, among others.

The Sultan pointed out that the large majority operate in the domestic sphere but they are a constituency to be reckoned with internationally as there are about 40,000 NGOs that operate globally.

“Amnesty International, CARE International, Oxfam International, Doctors Without Borders and Mercy Malaysia, all make invaluable contributions to the alleviation of human suffering and the improvement of livelihood.” – by Rajvinder Singh