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DAP calls on Malaysia, ASEAN and NAM to sponsor the initiative to convene a Special United Nations Conference on the future of Iraq based on the principles of its democratic development and on a real and immediate peace in the entire Middle East region Media Statement by Lim Kit Siang (Petaling Jaya,  Saturday): The world must express its horror and condemnation at the mayhem and anarchy which have descended in parts of Baghdad and Iraq as a result of the power vacuum arising from the disappearance of the Saddam Hussein regime, and the US and UK governments must be forcibly reminded of their responsibility to establish law and order as occupying powers under the Geneva conventions. The Bush administration in particular must be forewarned by the international community not to renege its immediate responsibility to end the anarchy and avert any civilian catastrophe to the Iraqi people from the toppling of the Saddam Hussein regime. Similarly, it must also be forewarned that it would be held responsible for any repetition of the Yugoslavia tragedy as the break-up and disintegration of Iraq, such as into a Shia state in the south, a Sunni state in the middle and a Kurdish state in the north. The international community must exert itself to restore international law and order and Malaysia, ASEAN and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) must play their part by sponsoring the initiative to convene a Special United Nations Conference on the future of Iraq based on the principles of its democratic development and on a real and immediate peace in the entire Middle East region. As a major step to restore international law and order and to re-establish the primacy of multilateralism over unilateralism, the following four-point objectives should be immediately and actively pursued not only at the Special United Nations Conference on Iraq but also at all regional and international conferences and forums: the urgent installation in Iraq, under the authority of the United Nations and in conformity with a Security Council resolution, of a transitional government fully representative of the Iraqi people; establishment of a peace that benefits the Iraqi people, who should enjoy full sovereignty over their territory and all their resources: a peace that guarantees democracy and the full respect of human rights; the participation of the entire international community in supporting the people of Iraq in their economic, political and physical reconstruction of their country, in extending humanitarian and other assistance, a task which should be made possible by the full involvement of the United Nations and other multilateral institutions; and A fair, just and immediate peace in the Middle East, which is the only guarantee for a democratic peaceful future for Iraq in the hands of its own people . Any plan, or roadmap, for peace in the Middle East must include the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, alongside secure borders for the state of Israel, and should be laid out without delay. (12/4/2003) * Lim Kit Siang, DAP National Chairman