14/09/2026

MONDAY | SEPT 14, 2026

6

Penang proposed as UN Secretariat base

Ű BY T.C. KHOR

GEORGE TOWN: Penang should be considered as the base of a United Nations Secretariat for Southeast Asia to strengthen Asean’s geopolitical clout and give the region a more influential voice in an increasingly multipolar world, the Penang Institute said. Its executive director Datuk Dr Ooi Kee Beng said Southeast Asia must recognise its strategic importance and claim a greater role in shaping the international order. “This would indeed strengthen the geopolitical role of Asean and the region. “It does not take much for us then to imagine that Penang, proud of being humble, global yet local, modern yet with feet sufficiently planted on the ground, can be the home for that secretariat. It is up to us,” he said in his opening speech at the inaugural Penang Peace Dialogue on Sept 5. During the dialogue, titled “Bridging Civilisations in a Multipolar World”, Ooi called for Southeast Asia to assert a greater role in a changing global order while recognising and embracing the differences and Its director Tamar Gabelnick said Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam are among countries in the region grappling with the consequences of explosives used during past conflicts. She said more than 270 million cluster bombs were dropped on Laos during the Vietnam War, with about 80 million said to be still in the ground today, 50 years after the war ended. “People are still being killed and injured every year by (explosives from) a war that officially ended before many were born,” she said at the opening of the Scars of War: An International Photography and Art Exhibition at the Lin Xiang Xiong Art Gallery in Gelugor on Sept 10. Gabelnick said Cambodia and Vietnam were still clearing land littered by bombs and landmines. “In parts of Vietnam, the land is so dangerous that farmers cannot safely work their own fields.” She also raised concerns over the continued use of cluster munitions and other explosives in current conflicts, claiming such ordnance were used last year along the Cambodia-Thailand border, as well as in the ongoing conflict in Myanmar. Gallery founder Prof Lin Xiang Xiong said the exhibition was part of its broader “Art for Peace” initiative, through which the Global Chinese Arts & Culture Society promotes dialogue between Eastern and Western civilisations and uses art and culture to encourage greater understanding. He said the gallery, which opened in December last year, was working with ICBL-CMC to present the exhibition and dialogue as “another new beginning” for the initiative. The exhibition comes days after the inaugural Penang Peace Dialogue:

Asean own secretariat in Jakarta, while there is currently no dedicated UN body for the Southeast Asian region. The Penang Institute, one of Malaysia’s major think tanks, is funded by the state government. Established in 1997, it conducts socio-economic research and publishes policy analysis on state and national development issues. Other issues raised during the Penang Peace Dialogue included a proposal by former Indonesian president Joko Widodo for a United Nations 2.0, and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM 2.0) proposal by economist and research advisor at Khazanah Research Institute, Emeritus Prof Dr Jomo Kwame Sundaram. maintains its

shaped by the influence of China, India, European colonial powers, Japan and the United States. For Ooi, however, peace goes beyond simply preventing armed conflict. “Peace is not simply the absence of war. Peace is not merely a ceasefire. It is a state of mind, a culture, a value system. “War is easy, by all present accounts. Peace is hard. Keeping the peace is harder than making war.” He said peace requires societies to be accepting of differences, open to change and resilient in times of crisis. “We are already living in the age of modern multipolarity. It is up to us to make that age a peaceful and inclusive one. Penang has a part to play in that process.”

o Move would strengthen geopolitical role of Asean and region, says think tank official

concept of Indo-Pacific within which to place the Southeast Asian region, Penang is still centrally located. In fact, even more so.” Ooi said Penang’s diversity had made it conscious of both the benefits and challenges of multicultural interaction, while its economy had evolved from a port economy into a major industrial and semiconductor hub. He added that Penang’s potential role in promoting peace should also be viewed against the broader history of Southeast Asia, which had been

diversity that have shaped the region. He said Penang’s history, location and multicultural character make it particularly suited to such a role. “Penang is where many seas meet, and where civilisations congregate,” he said. He described the island as being at the northern end of the Straits of Malacca, the southern end of the Andaman Sea, the eastern end of the Bay of Bengal and the western end of the Nusantara. “Even if we choose to accept the modern geopolitically coined

Danger, death continue after wars GEORGE TOWN: The deadly prospect of landmines and cluster munitions continues to haunt Southeast Asia decades after wars have ended, with unexploded ordnance killing and maiming civilians, said the International Campaign to Ban Landmines - Cluster Munition Coalition (ICBL-CMC).

Gabelnick, Gobind and Lin viewing a display at the gallery during the opening of the exhibition. – T.C. KHOR/THESUN

borders, or geopolitics, but ultimately about people, with ordinary people often carrying its deepest scars. Gobind said peace could not be secured by governments alone, with diplomats and civil society participation, experts clearing land of mines, journalists preserving the truth, artists keeping society’s conscience awake and technologists protecting what the world saw and remembered all having a role to play. – by T.C. Khor military strategy

from returning home, farmers from working their land, communities from rebuilding and children from walking safely. “In this very real sense, the scars of war can remain long after the war itself has ended.” Gobind also said the work of ICBL-CMC remains important, as its advocacy had helped keep the humanitarian consequences of such weapons before the conscience of the international community. He said war was not simply about

said Malaysia understood the value of peace, pointing to the country’s commitment to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, commonly known as the Ottawa Convention. He said Malaysia signed the treaty on Dec 3, 1997, and ratified it on April 22, 1999. “That commitment reflects a clear principle that weapons endangering civilians long after war have no place to co-exist with our citizens.” He added that landmines could continue to prevent families

Bridging Civilisations in a Multipolar World, held on Sept 5 and 6, which brought together political leaders, scholars and other international figures to discuss peace and the challenges posed by an increasingly multipolar world. While the dialogue examined the political and institutional dimensions of peace, the exhibition turns the focus to the human cost of conflict, including the scars left by weapons long after the fighting has ended. Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo