Malaysian premier is re-emerging as a strident yet pacifist spokesman for the non-aligned interests of the developing world
At 93-years-old, Mahathir Mohamad was the world’s oldest elected leader to address the recently concluded 73rd United Nations General Assembly in New York. Returning to the podium as Malaysia’s leader for the first time in nearly a generation, the veteran politician’s address lamented worsening political, economic and social conditions around the world.
His closely-watched and highly anticipated speech, which promised to set the direction of his new administration’s foreign policy, included a scathing appraisal of global power relations and a call to check the dominance of the UN Security Council’s five veto-wielding permanent members.
“When I last spoke here in 2003, I lamented how the world had lost its way. I bemoaned the fact that small countries continued to be at the mercy of the powerful,” said Mahathir, who served as Malaysia’s premier from 1981 to 2003 and last spoke at the UN’s General Assembly nearly a month before he stepped down as prime minister.
“But today – 15 years later – the world has not changed much. If at all the world is far worse than 15 years ago. Today the world is in a state of turmoil,” he told the assembly, citing an escalating trade war between the world’s two most powerful economies, rising acts of terrorism and militarism, and deteriorating social values that “undermine the stability” of nations.
Nile Bowie is a writer and journalist with the Asia Times covering current affairs in Singapore and Malaysia. He can be reached at nilebowie@gmail.com.
At 93-years-old, Mahathir Mohamad was the world’s oldest elected leader to address the recently concluded 73rd United Nations General Assembly in New York. Returning to the podium as Malaysia’s leader for the first time in nearly a generation, the veteran politician’s address lamented worsening political, economic and social conditions around the world.
His closely-watched and highly anticipated speech, which promised to set the direction of his new administration’s foreign policy, included a scathing appraisal of global power relations and a call to check the dominance of the UN Security Council’s five veto-wielding permanent members.
“When I last spoke here in 2003, I lamented how the world had lost its way. I bemoaned the fact that small countries continued to be at the mercy of the powerful,” said Mahathir, who served as Malaysia’s premier from 1981 to 2003 and last spoke at the UN’s General Assembly nearly a month before he stepped down as prime minister.
“But today – 15 years later – the world has not changed much. If at all the world is far worse than 15 years ago. Today the world is in a state of turmoil,” he told the assembly, citing an escalating trade war between the world’s two most powerful economies, rising acts of terrorism and militarism, and deteriorating social values that “undermine the stability” of nations.
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