Large Turnout At Malaysian Reception To Mark End Of UNSC Presidency

By Manik Mehta NEW YORK, July 2 (Bernama) -- Almost the entire glitterati of the diplomatic corps accredited to the United Nations turned up at the Malaysian reception to mark the end of the country's month-long rotational presidency of the UN Security Council in June. The guests who attended the reception, hosted by Malaysia’s permanent representative to the UN Ramlan Ibrahim at Malaysia’s permanent mission, included ambassadors and senior diplomats of countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Europe. China’s ambassador was also present. But a rare cameo appearance that pleasantly surprised many Malaysian diplomats was that of the US permanent representative to the United Nations, Samantha Power, who arrived at the tail end of the reception. She stayed on for a few minutes, warmly greeted Ramlan and then left. The appearance of Power, who is known to keep a very busy schedule, was interpreted as a sign that “she and the United States were happy with Malaysia’s presidency of the Security Council”, one Malaysian diplomat told Bernama on the condition of anonymity. The US permanent representative to the UN traditionally holds an important position in the US President’s cabinet, and has the ear of the President. She was listed by Forbes, as of 2014, as the 63rd most powerful woman in the world. Power’s presence also seemed to convey the impression that the United States has been generally pleased with Malaysia’s presidency which, although considered low key, has been quite effective. Although a month’s presidency is too short to take any major steps, Malaysia could, nevertheless, successfully push through Resolution 2225 on the Abduction of Children and Conflict Areas which was unanimously adopted by all 75 countries that participated in the voting round on June 18 when Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman presided over the meeting. In an interview with Bernama after the reception, Ramlan fleshed out some of the key features of Malaysia’s one-month UNSC presidency in June. Besides calling for the High-Level Open Debate on Children and Armed Conflict on June 18, which culminated in the unanimous adoption of Resolution 2225, Malaysia had also called for making perpetrators of children’s abduction accountable, including the listing of parties in armed conflict which abduct children in the Secretary-General’s annual report. Malaysia, he pointed out, is the only Security Council member that is also a member of the Organisational Committee of Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) for the same term, 2014-2015. This made Malaysia the “natural choice” as coordinator to strengthen relations and coordination between the UNSC and the PBC. Malaysia also called for an open briefing followed by an Informal Interactive Dialogue (IID) on Peacebuilding on June 25, 2015. The IID, which includes the Security Council members, the chairs of the specific configurations countries, the countries on the PBC’s agenda and representatives from the UN Secretariat, is formatted in a very informal manner. Over and above, on June 30, the last day of its presidency, Malaysia co-chaired with Spain a meeting on the “Role of Climate Change as a Threat Multiplier to Global Security”. There was a large presence of environmental ministers and other dignitaries in New York who had come for the General Assembly’s High-Level Debate on Climate Change held on June 29. Ramlan also spoke of the element of moderation at the UNSC: “We believe that the concept of moderation could be applied positively towards the council’s role in conflict prevention and post-conflict peacebuilding.” The Global Movement of Moderates (GMM), according to Ramlan, would also play a significant role during the visit of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak in September for the General Assembly session. Najib is expected to underscore the importance of the GMM when he addresses the UNGA. -- BERNAMA