PM: UN’s vision on democracy and justice utterly shattered to pieces
Delivering Malaysia’s national statement at the general debate of the United Nations General Assembly on Friday (Sept 22), Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim regretted the departure of the original vision of the founding of the United Nations for a more democratic and just world.
“That vision, in my opinion, has been utterly shattered to pieces. Today, we find that the major powers and those that aspire to greater international status are increasingly casting the United Nations aside for smaller, supposedly more efficacious platforms,” he said.
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“That vision, in my opinion, has been utterly shattered to pieces. Today, we find that the major powers and those that aspire to greater international status are increasingly casting the United Nations aside for smaller, supposedly more efficacious platforms,” he said.
WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news
SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar
LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline
Transcript
00:00 I request the protocol to escort his excellency.
00:03 I have great pleasure in welcoming his excellency Anwar Ibrahim, Prime Minister and Minister of
00:13 Finance of Malaysia. I invite him to address the assembly.
00:17 [Anwar Ibrahim speaks in Indonesian]
00:38 Mr. President, when this August assembly was established almost 80 years ago,
00:45 the world was still reeling from the horrors of a catastrophic bloodletting that our nation's
00:52 resolve should never be repeated. A decision profound in wisdom, magnanimous in intent,
01:01 and bold in ambition was made so that the General Assembly would become the main deliberative
01:09 policymaking and representative organ of the United Nations. A decision that manifested no less
01:18 than the very strength and courage of our convictions. By giving equal voice to the
01:25 sovereign nations of the world, the founders of the United Nations pursued a vision of a
01:32 more democratic world, predicated on the dictates of equity and justice. This was a vision that
01:42 consigned to the past the predations of the strong of the weak, the strong over the weak,
01:50 of the rich and powerful, over the poor and the marginalized, and of the big powers over the rest.
02:01 That vision, in my opinion, has been utterly shattered to pieces. Today, we find that the
02:11 major powers and those that aspire to greater international status are increasingly casting
02:19 the United Nations aside for smaller, supersurely more efficacious platforms. As the powers that
02:28 be continue to pay lip service to the imperative of multilateralism, we see the emergence of
02:37 mini-lateralism instead, effectively becoming fragmented configurations of power.
02:44 Mr. President, we are living in a deeply polarized world. We are seeing major power rivalry
02:55 unfolding with consequences that will negatively impact nations, especially the smaller ones
03:03 in the regions of conflict. The upshot is that we are confronted with a geopolitical
03:11 and geostrategic dilemma. While the major powers continue to assure that a binary choice is not
03:20 being imposed, the reality for many is that it is the only choice offered. Unchecked,
03:29 this will ultimately lead, once again, to a world where the masses are unrepresented,
03:37 where the few rule over the many, and the many resent the few.
03:44 [END]
03:44 Transcription by Trans-Expert at Fiverr.com