Make Malaysia's Participation In UNESCO More Visible

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 15 (Bernama) -- Malaysia’s active participation in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) should to be made more visible to the people, said former Malaysia's permanent delegate to UNESCO Datuk Kenneth J. Luis. He hoped the inaugural UNESCO Malaysia Day to be launched by Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin here on Friday will become an annual event to create awareness. Apart from the launch, a UNESCO Day celebration will also be held at the Central Market here on Saturday from 10am to 6.30pm. Appearing on TV2 this morning as part of the celebration, Luis recalled with fondness his stint in Paris after his appointment in 2007. "My first task was to make sure Malaysia win a seat in the UNESCO executive board...of course, it involved a lot hard work and thank God we managed to win a seat with the highest number of votes. That was an achievement for the country," he said. Malaysia has just completed its four-year term of office in the 58-member executive board which meets twice a year to examine the work programme for the organisation and corresponding budget estimates. Luis also singled out the listing of Melaka and George Town as UNESCO’s heritage sites in 2008 and a coffee-table book documenting 50 years of Malaysia’s achievements in the field of education as among the high points during his tenure as the country’s permanent delegate. "The book traces the history of educational development in our country and something interesting is that all the prime ministers of Malaysia had been education minister," he said. Another memorable moment for him was when Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak was given the honour as the first speaker at the opening of the UNESCO General Conference in 2009. In his speech, Najib, who himself had once been elected to the UNESCO executive board with the highest number of votes, announced the establishment of a Unesco-Malaysia Cooperative Trust Fund. It will be utilised for capacity-building in education and science for the benefit of the least developed countries, small island states and in support of the Priority Africa agenda. Asked about his role as permanent delegate, Luis said the most important task was to enhance the country’s image and protect its position in the 175-member organisation. "You have to work closely with the secretariat, the director-general, fellow colleagues...you need to build rapport with them," said Luis, who was Malaysia’s 12th permanent delegate since the country joined UNESCO on June 16, 1958. UNESCO came under the spotlight recently when Palestine became a member following voting in which 107 member states supported and 14 opposed, while 52 others abstained. Luis said he would remember Paris as a city that never changes. "The buildings are the same, the trees are still there...my first visit was 30 years ago and when I worked there for two and a half years, I used to see the same things there. "It’s something they take care of and they are proud of their heritage, and of course it’s a very beautiful city," he said. -- BERNAMA