I watched in awe at Malaysia’s 10th Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim whilst he delivered his maiden speech at the 78thUN General Assembly in New York rubbing shoulders with global leaders who have come together to attend this pivotal event.
He called out Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the plight of Palestinians robbed of their land and rights, he stressed on the violence and discrimination against girls and women in Afghanistan, he summoned for an end to the brutality and barbarity in Myanmar and condemned the burning of the Holy Quran in Sweden intended to cause hatred. He summoned for acceptance and respect, inter-religious, inter-civilisation and inter-cultural understanding, to unite our faith for a common cause to strengthen peace and harmony amongst nations.
He spoke passionately for over 16 minutes, calling out superpowers that have failed to live to their reputation and in some cases, directly involved with crimes against humanity, war crimes and contributing to the erosion of human rights. He mentioned of “the strong over the weak, of the rich and the powerful over the poor and the marginalised, and of the big powers over the rest”. This speaks volumes on his MADANI concept, which he outlined as well, in bridging the gap between all layers of society so all of us can hold our heads up as proud Malaysians.
He addressed the August institution, asserting that major powers have cast the United Nations aside and pay lip service to multilateralism. This is a bold statement to make judging by the series of events taking place in countries where these ‘major powers’ feel a sense of control over. He cautioned over unchecked powers of the few who rule over the many, and that the many resent it.
It is important for a country like Malaysia, a young democracy, that has seen tumultuous times in the political arena in the past few years – a change of guards, rather the Prime Minister – 3 in 4 years and Anwar Ibrahim breaking that spell and becoming the 10th PM in Malaysia, to make herself heard, on a global platform to speak with courage, conviction, passion and with spirit, to urge world leaders to come together, share resources, missions and visions for a nation, for a world that we can be proud of when we hand them to the next generation and not a fragmented, polarised one as we are in now.
Anwar Ibrahim spoke on the plight of refugees through forced migration and statelessness – this is a subject that is prickly to many but one that must be addressed by being the “bigger person” and not through a “siege mentality” mindset. With imminent climate change and unpredictable weather changes, who knows if one day we will be climate refugees.
He touched on climate change and rallied support from all nations to take greater climate action and at the same time stressed on the performance of countries for the 2023 SDG report, stating that a third are experiencing inertia or worse, have regressed. This is particularly important as the SDG outlines 17 fundamental goals for a better life for an individual and collectively as a nation.
DAP Supremo Lim Kit Siang once said, “The world is not as big as we thought it was, the pandemic showed us how close we are to each other. Malaysia must project itself as a world class nation and to stand tall amongst other great nations”.
While there were some who did say online that the PM should have shared Malaysia’s achievements in abolishing the mandatory death penalty as a member of the UN Human Rights Council, or on statelessness and the refugee crisis in Malaysia and in ASEAN his speech in New York had made many Malaysians proud of the leader we have today. In spite of the hiccups along the way over the past 9 months, there has been many achievements and success stories, and I am confident there are more to come after this.
Thank you, Mr Prime Minister, for representing us, for representing Malaysia in being a voice of courage, conscience and conviction – standing tall in the eyes of the world.