LETTER | Malaysia may be small but has played big role in UN

LETTER | The United Nations was established after the Second World War on Oct 24, 1945. The UN is an intergovernmental organisation that promotes international peace, harmony, and cooperation in economic and social activities.

At its founding, there were 51 member states, and now, there are 193 member states. The UN is the largest international organisation, and it has six major organisations: the United Nations General Assembly, the United Nations Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the International Court of Justice, the Trusteeship Council, and the UN Secretariat.

After achieving independence on Aug 31, 1957, the Federation of Malaya applied to be a member of the UN. Then-prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman wrote to the then-secretary-general of the UN, Dag Hammarskjold, expressing the state’s intention to be a UN member.

Subsequently, during the 12th session of the UNGA on Sept 17, 1957, the Federation of Malaya became the 82nd member. Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman was appointed as the ambassador of Malaya to the UN and the United States.

In his inaugural speech at the United Nations General Assembly, dressed in the Malay warrior costume, Ismail stressed the importance of friendly negotiation and the spirit of compromise, especially coming from Malaya, a multiracial country. He also pledged that Malaya would observe the UN Charter.

True to its pledge, Malaysia has demonstrated its commitment to the UN Charter and multilateralism and international cooperation. Throughout the years, Malaysia has participated in various peacekeeping missions.

For example, three years after its independence in October 1960, the Federation of Malaya deployed 3,500 troops to participate in the United Nations Operation in Congo. Malaysia has supported the UN peacekeeping operations by participating in 39 such operations and deploying nearly 40,000 peacekeepers from the Malaysian Armed Forces and the Royal Malaysia Police.

Among the UN peacekeeping operations in which Malaysia has participated were the Protection Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, the United Nations Transition Assistance Group, the Interim Force in Lebanon, Operation in Somalia, and the International Monitoring Team in Mindanao.

It is noteworthy to mention that Malaysia ranks 19th among 122 troop-contributing countries. According to UN data, Malaysia is ranked the eighth highest troop contributor to the UN in Asia. Besides, Malaysia has established the Malaysia Peacekeeping Training Centre in Port Dickson to train the armed forces, police, and civilian personnel involved in the UN peacekeeping operations worldwide.

Besides peacekeeping operations, Malaysia has also demonstrated its commitment to maintaining international peace and security by participating in debates and discussions in the UN Security Council on issues related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Bosnia and Herzegovina Conflict, and the Kosovo War.

Malaysia has been elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council four times, first in 1965, subsequently 1989-1990, 1999-2000, and latest from 2015-2016. Apart from the UN Security Council, Malaysia has also participated actively in the United Nations General Assembly.

Razali Ismail, a Malaysian diplomat, was elected president of the United Nations General Assembly during the 51st session in 1996. Razali was the third regional representative to preside over the United Nations General Assembly after Dr Carlos Pena Romulo (the Philippines) and Adam Malik (Indonesia).

In addition, Malaysia has also served as the vice-president of the United Nations General Assembly six times: 20th session (1965-1966), 39th session (1984-1985), 41st session (1986-1987), 46th session (1991-1992), 60th session (2005-2006) and 68th session (2013-2014).

Malaysia has also played a crucial role in the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). It has been a member of the ECOSOC seven times, beginning in 1971-1973, 1976-1985, 1991-1993, 1995-1997, 2003-2005 and 2008-2010.

Among Malaysia’s earliest female ambassadors to hold a critical role in the ECOSOC was Lim Phaik Gan, or PG Lim, who served as Malaysia’s ambassador-level deputy permanent representative to the UN. She also served on the Economic and Social Council’s Social Committee and was a permanent representative to the United Nations Industrial Development.

Another distinguished Malaysian diplomat in the United Nations is Hamidon Ali. On Jan 19, 2010, Hamidon was the first Malaysian diplomat to be elected as the president of the ECOSOC. In addition, he has served and headed other committees within the UN, such as the head of the UN Population Award Committee, the head of the UN General Assembly’s fifth committee (management and budgetary), vice-president of the United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (Unicef) in 2008 and vice-chairperson of the UN Forum on Forest from 2006 to 2007.

On Sept 22, 2023, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim gave his maiden speech during the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. He touched on several key issues affecting international security, such as the war in Ukraine, the situation in Myanmar, the Middle East, and Afghanistan.

In his speech, Anwar expressed grave concern over increasing Islamophobia as a new form of racism. He expressed Malaysia’s continuous commitment to multilateralism.

Malaysia may be small compared to other Asian countries, but since its independence, it has demonstrated unceasing support to the UN in maintaining international peace and cooperation.

ROY ANTHONY ROGERS is the deputy executive director of Asia Europe Institute, Universiti Malaya.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.