‘Malaysia will speak plainly: We are sick of it’: Mohamad Hasan tells UN to act on Gaza

Malaysia's Foreign Minister, Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, has called on the United Nations to transition from reacting to crises to preventing them, particularly in the context of Gaza. In his national statement at the General Debate of the 81st UN General Assembly, Mohamad emphasized that the UN should not simply respond to disasters by counting the dead, delivering supplies and rebuilding destroyed infrastructure, only to wait for the next crisis. "This cannot be the future of multilateralism," he stated.

Mohamad emphasized that this urgency was especially dire in Gaza, where Malaysia and numerous other member states have exhausted all efforts to seek justice for the Palestinian people. These efforts include consistently advocating for an immediate ceasefire and unrestricted aid supply to Gaza. While Malaysia has supported humanitarian work in Palestine, advocated for punitive measures against Israel, and pushed for full Palestinian membership at the UN, Mohamad lamented that collective efforts at the General Assembly have repeatedly been hindered by the veto power. "Malaysia will speak plainly: We are sick of it," he asserted.

Mohamad reiterated Malaysia's commitment to strengthening the multilateral system to effectively respond to conflicts and humanitarian crises. According to Gaza's Health Ministry, over 73,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 174,000 injured since October 2023. The foreign minister was in New York from September 23 to 27 to represent Malaysia at the 81st session of the UN General Assembly.