Indonesia calls for reform of UN Security Council

... Let's face it : the remnants of the Cold War mentality still persist in parts of the geopolitical landscape...

New York (ANTARA News) - Indonesian President Susilo Yudhoyono has reiterated the call for the reform of the United Nations (UN) Security Council which could reflect strategic 21st century reality and offer safety while ending the warm peace era in the world.

"We have moved from the era of the Cold War to an era of warm peace. In this warm peace, the world remains stuck with an outdated international security architecture that still reflects 20th century circumstances; in contrast with the global economic architecture that has done much better to adjust to the 21st century," Yudhoyono said in his remarks in the UN General Assembly, here on Tuesday (Sept 25).

President Yudhoyono stressed that the reform of the UN Security Council would be a part of new and more imaginative approaches within the association.

"The first thing we have to do is to evolve a new strategic mindset. Let's face it : the remnants of the Cold War mentality still persist in parts of the geopolitical landscape, not least in our own United Nations, where rigid, dogmatic, zero-sum calculations sometimes still come into play," he added.

He emphasized that in the warm peace era, the relationships among the major powers were firstly marked by an increased and relative cooperation.

The questions remained unanswered, however, as to how they would accommodate the growing ranks of emerging powers which were reshaping the world order, according to the President.

"In this warm peace era, pockets of hatred and bigotry, intolerance and extremism continue to litter our world," he stressed.

Therefore, Yudhoyono saw the peace values being enjoyed by the world currently as being relative, considering old enmities and long-standing conflicts which could still resurface in the new strategic landscape and even be carried on by future generations.

In his remarks in the General Assembly debate, Yudhoyono referred to unfinished issues, such as the Arab-Israeli conflict, territorial dispute in the South China Sea and tensions in the Korean Peninsula.

"Perhaps, we will have to live with this warm peace for decades. But I do believe that we can lower the temperature of this warm peace. Where possible, we can resolve the conflicts one by one. We can strengthen the building blocks for peace. We can promote a new form of globalism that can potentially change the dynamics of conflict resolution," Yudhoyono said.

Editor: Ade P Marboen
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