"Commission I of the House of Representatives (DPR) appreciates the hard struggle of the Indonesian government to bring the country into a non-permanent member of the UNSC," Commission I Deputy Chairman Satya Widya Yudha said in Jakarta on Sunday.
Indonesia was elected a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for 2019-2020 on Friday (June 8).
Yudha said that the election of Indonesia as a non-permanent member of the UNSC should not make `us arrogant`.
Indonesia should take strategic steps in playing its important role in its efforts to realize world peace and order based on the message of the constitution.
"The entry of Indonesia into the UNSC should reinforce the UN role which is now weakening," he said.
According to the legislator, the role of the UN is increasingly weakening in guarding the world peace. As an example of the weakening of the UN role, Yudha who a politician of the Golkar Party mentioned the conflict in Syria and the moving of the US embassy to Jerusalem.
"We have to be critical, including agaist the US government so that it would review its policy of moving its embassy to Jerusalem," he said.
According to Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, Indonesia won the non-permanent seat after a vote in the General Assembly in New York on Friday morning local time.
"Alhamdulilah (Thank God) at the General Assembly of the United Nations, Indonesia was elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council representing the Asia-Pacific region to replace Kazakhstan whose membership period will end in late 2018," Retno Marsudi, said through a video conference monitored by Antara on Friday night.
"Through a closed-door voting process at the General Assembly, Indonesia won 144 votes," the Minister added.
Indonesia, which will officially fill the seat as of January 1, 2019, defeated the Maldives by 144 votes to 46 after 190 UN member-countries cast their votes.
Besides Indonesia, four other countries were also elected non-permanent members of the UNSC -- South Africa for Africa; the Dominican Republic for Latin America and the Caribbean; and Germany and Belgium for Western Europe and other countries.
Indonesia had previously been a Non-Permanent Member of the UNSC in 1973-1974, 1995-1996, and 2007-2008.
The Security Council has 15 members -- five permanent (United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia, and China) and 10 non-permanent serving for two years.
Reporter: Kelik Dewanto
Editor: Andi Abdussalam
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
