Razali Ismail

Tan Sri Razali Ismail (born April 14, 1939 in Alor Setar , Kedah , now Malaysia ) is a Malaysian diplomat and UN politician. The term Tan Sri is a title awarded by the Malaysian state.

Ismail joined the Malaysian diplomatic service in 1962. After various positions abroad, including in London and Paris as well as in the Foreign Ministry, he became Malaysian ambassador to various countries, from 1978 to 1982 in Poland , Hungary , the GDR and Czechoslovakia , from 1982 to 1985 in India and from 1988 to 1998 in Cuba , Jamaica , St. Lucia , Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago .

From 1988 to 1998 he represented Malaysia as permanent representative to the United Nations. In 1989/90 he sat for his country on the UN Security Council , which he chaired for one year. In 1992 he headed the Malaysian delegation at the first world climate summit in Rio de Janeiro . On September 17, 1996, the General Assembly of the United Nations elected Ismail as its President , he chaired 52 regular sessions, the 10th emergency session and the 19th special session of the assembly until the end of his term of office on September 16, 1997.

From April 4, 2000 to early January 2006, Razali Ismail was the United Nations' special envoy for Myanmar , the former Burma. He mediated between the Burmese military junta and the opposition around Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi . After initial successes that led to Aung San Suu Kyi's release from house arrest in May 2002, the Myanmar government increasingly hindered his work after the attack on Suu Kyi's motorcade on May 30, 2003. Finally, after his last visit to Rangoon in early March 2004, she refused him further entry. As this meant that he could no longer perform the task assigned by the United Nations for 22 months, he decided not to extend his contract when it expired on January 3, 2006.

In addition to these activities, Ismail taught international studies as a visiting professor at Michigan State University , USA (1993–1995), and at the Universities of Kebangsaan and Putra , Malaysia.

Razali Ismail is married and has three children.

Razali plan

The term "Razali Plan" refers to a draft drawn up by Razali for the reform of the UN Security Council . Key data of the design are:

• Extension by nine more members (5 permanent and 4 non-permanent)
• Permanent seats are to be filled as follows: one seat each in Africa, Asia and Latin America / Caribbean, two further seats are to be occupied by industrialized countries
• Non-permanent seats should be distributed across regions (Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America / Caribbean)
• new permanent members have no right of veto, old members should only make use of the right of veto in cases of Chapter VII of the UN Charter
• there is a quorum of 15 votes
• the charter changes are to be reviewed by a conference after 10 years

Web links

• Biography on the homepage of the United Nations (as of September 1996) ( English )
• CV with photo on the homepage of Kedah ( English )