The Malaysian Insight

PRIME Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s maiden speech at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) reflects his moderate and safe approach to issues, analysts said.

“It is reflective of his political approach in Malaysia, which is consolatory despite criticism on global issues – the rollout of vaccines, the reform of UN and conflicts in Myanmar, Palestine and Afghanistan,” said Universiti Utara Malaysia senior lecturer Dr Kamarul Zaman Yusoff.  

He said many would have wanted Ismail to be louder and more direct like Dr Mahathir Mohamad, but the Umno vice-president had his own approach. 

“Being a moderate person, Ismail prefers to only make his point without hurting relations with other nations, although it may have made him more popular like Dr Mahathir,” said the political science lecturer. 

Ismail delivered his UNGA speech via video last night. In the speech, the newly appointed prime minister spoke about the discriminatory rollout of Covid-19 vaccines, growing inequalities, nuclear disarmament and Myanmar, Palestine and Afghanistan issues.

Kamarul said Ismail’s condemnation of Israeli aggression in Palestine will also boost his domestic and international image in the Islamic world. 

“His call for Myanmar to allow Asean’s special envoy to visit the country and expedite the implementation of the ‘Five-point Consensus’ should also boost his acceptance not just in Malaysia but also at the Asean level,” he said. 

Keluarga Malaysia

International Islamic University of Malaysia’s Dr Lau Zhe Wei felt that Ismail had played it safe and the speech lacked new ideas and solutions. 

Compared with someone like Dr Mahathir, Lau said the Ismail’s speech also seemed generic and avoided any head-on collisions with bigger countries.

“Although, Ismail brought up a good idea of ‘world family’, following the ‘Keluarga Malaysia’ concept that he introduced, it lacked substance,” he said. 

“It may sound nice on paper, but in terms of implementation, his government has yet to show anything.

“Without any outcome, it will be hard to convince the world community that this is a feasible concept.” 

Taking Dr Mahathir’s maiden UNGA address in 2018, Lau said the 95-year-old gave more solutions. 

“For example, in one of his speeches, instead of forcing less developed countries to allocate a percentage of its land for forestry, Dr Mahathir suggested developed countries ‘buy’ carbon credit from the poorer country,” he said.   

“This suggestion makes sense… instead of an over-idealistic suggestion.  

“But, of course, ‘world family’ is a generically nice version, where nobody or no country will openly reject this idea. That’s why I argue from the beginning that his speech is a safe one.”  

Kamarul says it is remarkable for Ismail to introduce the spirit of Keluarga Malaysia on the world stage. 

“His emphasis that this world family must come together and engage in more effective health diplomacy, not just to end this pandemic but on an array of other health-related issues, and his promise that Malaysia will play a more prominent role and participate more actively in health diplomacy is pleasing and reassuring,” he said.

Discrimination in vaccine distribution 

One thing Lau did like was Ismail’s comment on the discrimination in vaccine rollouts. 

“However, it could have been better if he had given realistic suggestions on how to deal with this. Unfortunately, this was missing,” he said.   

“In reality, we cannot naively expect superpowers to willingly put themselves on a par with other countries.”

 He said Ismail could have shared Malaysia’s vaccination rate (which is one of the highest in the world) and the challenges it faced in procuring sufficient vaccines. 

“One of the points I liked about his speech is the principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibility’. He should have made this as the main point of his speech. This can make the speech more visible,” he said.   

“This principle will explain most of the conflicts that he brought up in his speech. Each country with different capacities has different roles to play and different contributions to make. 

“Developed countries can provide financial resources and technology transfer so that receiving countries can work on moving towards a greener economy, which in the end, provides a greener world.” – September 26, 2021.