YOURSAY | What is it that Malaysia wants to achieve in UN?

YOURSAY | 'Please look at your own backyard before you preach to others.'

Malaysia wants UN Security Council's veto power abolished

Doc: Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob talks about global equality but, sadly, there is no racial equality in Malaysia. On top of that, his Umno party is one of the strongest promoters of racism in the country.

While he talked about abolishing veto power and promoting democracy in the United Nations, he and his coalition of political misfits were not themselves democratically elected to serve the people.

As for the atrocities in the Ukraine war and its effect globally, Ismail Sabri's government is doing little to tackle human trafficking within our borders.

Lastly, he spoke in Bahasa Melayu. From my understanding, the UN provides interpreters for a handful of the most common languages (and BM is not among them). Did Sabri's team provide interpreters for Sabri's speech to be understood by all delegates?

David Dass: We have to decide what it is we want to achieve when we address international organisations like the United Nations. I have no issues with wearing traditional costumes and speaking in Malay.

But the reality is speeches are less effective when translated. The persuasive effect of oratory is lost. A lawyer should know that. Ismail Sabri is a lawyer.

Additionally, for our voices to matter, we must speak in unison with others. So Malaysia should be reaching agreements with like-minded nations on crucial issues so that we can speak in unison. Simply speaking in a language which few understand on general issues gets you nowhere.

As for abolishing the Security Council, there is no hope at all of such a proposal being accepted.

The nations on the Security Council carry a disproportionate amount of the cost of the UN. They are also responsible for most of the peacekeeping missions.

They are not going to agree to be bound by a majority vote of the UN General Assembly, where the majority could be very small nations contributing very little to the cost and the operations of the UN.

A better proposal would be to increase the number of permanent members of the Security Council to include countries like India, Canada and Indonesia and bring in the concept of majority vote.

The majority could be 75 percent or whatever. That way, no one member can veto resolutions of the Security Council.

Kilimanjaro: Preaching to the world is insane when some of this country's leaders were vehemently opposed to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Icerd).

Someone like Ismail Sabri, who was so opposed to Icerd, and visibly made sure of that, has no moral to lecture the world of "inequalities" when his own country is mired in institutionalised racism.

Why just talk about the suffering of the Rohingyas and Palestinians? There are 90,000 Tamil women made widows in a civil war in Sri Lanka. Why not speak of that?

BlueShark2823: Actually, this is what you term as ‘syok sendiri’. Please look at your own backyard before you preach to others.

The Malaysian PM actually does not have any right to speak about unfairness on the international platform. One just has to look at the lopsided budget allocation, base on race here, as one fine example.

Certain quarters in Malaysia work hard to pay tax while others get to enjoy it most. Religion and race extremism against minorities have become the norm.

Only once in five years, the minorities are showered with goodies to garner votes. After that, it is back to square one.

BlueMinnow3865: Does anybody in the UN General Assembly understand Bahasa Melayu? Only a few languages are accorded translation but definitely not Bahasa Melayu.

Throughout the history of Malaysia, every PM speaks English in the international arena but this ‘ketuanan Melayu’ leader tries to champion Bahasa Melayu. It is a waste of energy and resources as the international community will not bother about you promoting your own language.

In Malaysia, every PM tries to do something different but Ismail Sabri takes the cake. He goes one step further by forcing all government departments to communicate in Bahasa Melayu, and in the international arena too.

1557298803923: Indeed, Malaysia doesn't recognise UN human rights resolutions, so what right does our PM get to speak about the veto power?

There is no point going to the UN and portraying yourself as a hero when you cannot even clean up your own backyard infested with criminalities, and when our beloved country has become an embarrassment to the world.

KSK: Leaving aside the grotesque irony of an Umno politician lecturing the world about democracy when his own government is unelected; and leaving aside the serious flaws in his own country's practice of democracy, it's still funny that he thinks "one country one vote" would be democratic.

The population of China and India are about 1.4 billion each while those of Tuvalu and Nauru each stand at less than 20,000. He would give all four countries one vote each and call it "democracy"?

But should the UN Security Council be restructured? Yes.

The five permanent members often use their veto power in ways that are quite disgraceful, allowing themselves and their client states to engage in gross misbehaviour. This should stop.

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