Mr. president, excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen I join others in congratulating my friend, His Excellency Doctor Khalilur Rahman on his election as president of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly. Doctor Kalulu, you have Malaysia's full support as you lead this Assembly through a period of profound global uncertainty. Mr. president, indeed, we are meeting at the most challenging time for the UN in many years.

The world has become accustomed to crisis. War are escalating. Major power rivalry is sharpening. The international arms control architecture is under strain. New technologies are transforming societies faster than our institutions can adapt But perhaps the greatest danger is not any one crisis. It is the growing belief that the international system cannot solve them. This is the trust deficit confronting the UN today and Malaysia. Mr. president believes that we must confront it openly and honestly Trust can only be restored through concrete action when international law means what it says, and when the people of the world can look to this hall and believe that there were their voices, still matters. Mr. president, we must remember that the UN is not merely here for the aftermath of war, but to prevent war from taking place. Yet too often we respond only after disaster has arrived We count the dead. We deliver supplies. We rebuild what has been destroyed, and then we wait for the next crisis.

This cannot be a future of multilateralism. We must move from reaction to prevention. And nowhere is that task more urgent than in Gaza. Mr. president, Malaysia will not stand here and recite statistics that everyone in this hall already knows. We all know the scale of death in Gaza We know how many children, families, medic, aid workers and journalists have been slaughtered. We also know that Gaza represents the highest number of children made orphans in a single conflict. Malaysia and many other member states have exhausted the. And every effort in pursuit of justice for Gaza. We have consistently called for immediate ceasefire and unrestricted supply of aid. We have supported humanitarian work in Palestine. We have pushed for punitive actions towards Israel, and we have advocated for full Palestinian membership in this hall. And yet again and again, Mr. President, the collective will of this Assembly has encountered the silencing effect of the veto.

Malaysia will speak plainly, Mr. President. We are sick of it. Mr. president, nowhere is the need for reform more critical than in the Security Council. Nowhere are the shortcomings of the United Nations more glaring than in the Security Council. The exercise of veto must be questioned and strongly challenged by every single member of this General Assembly particularly in cases of crimes against humanity. Resolution 76 oblique two. 62 has already created an accountability channel between the Council and this Assembly. We must. We must make full use of this resolution as a launching, as a launch pad for greater accountability regarding the use of veto. Expanding the Council's membership alone will not be enough to resolve its failure. It is the veto that must be challenged and it is. The veto must be abolished. We must begin the work now. There is still time to save the global order. The paralysis of Security Council will not be the paralysis of United Nations Mr. president, it is fair to say that global trust in the United Nations ability to deliver is at an all time low. This, in turn, demolishes trust in the very idea of the multilateral order. The citizens we serve and represent are afraid. Excellencies. They are watching the world order fragment. They are witnessing the re-emergence of arms race. They have heard over threats, over use nuclear weapons, and they are seeing their governments choose not to regulate AI and the many ways it is being abused, but instead give it more power in such chaotic times. The only way to course correct is to rebuild trust in the power of proactive governance and multilateralism. Mr. president, trust comes from the way in which we, as the world leaders, can manage transformation forces. For centuries, global power was concentrated in states.

But today a new source of power have emerged. A handful of private actors now control how billions of people communicate, work, transact and consume information. Artificial intelligence is changing how economies operate, how societies function, and how governments make decisions. The opportunities are enormous, but also are the risks. We must therefore ask a simple question who governs the transformation? Technology must serve humanity, never the reverse. And the answer cannot be that small number of companies or countries decide the rules for everyone else. The United Nations must continue to empower global South countries who are likely to be more greatly affected by inequitable AI development. To participate in global discussions on AI. The global South cannot simply become a destination for data centers. While decisions about AI are made elsewhere, we must be partners in innovation, not merely customers and markets, and not merely destinations for investment partners involved in the decisions that will shape our future. Equitable decision making and equitable development. That means managing the enormous demands that tech infrastructure places on water, energy, land and other resources that show that the benefits of AI can be shared more broadly across the borders. Mr. president, in our hyperconnected world today, indeed, very few things stay where they begin. Technologies are rapidly shared, and they can just as rapidly disrupt. Similarly, war can also travel beyond borders across West Asia Escalating conflict threatens some of the world's most important routes for energy and trade, including the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el al-Mahdi.

The consequences of conflict do not stop at the shores. A family in Southeast Asia has no part in this dispute. Yet that family still pays the price when food, fuel and cost of living rise. Malaysia, therefore, urged all parties to step back from escalation. Diplomacy has shown that dialogue is possible, that paths must not be Abandoned. Or we risk sending further shockwaves through global markets and needlessly bringing suffering to innocent families around the world. Mr. president most nations in this hall are not great powers, yet decisions taken by few can shape the future for all. We are the global majority.

As I said earlier, we must not simply live with the consequences of choices made elsewhere. We must help shape those choices. Middle powers such as Malaysia can help keep dialogue alive when major powers cannot agree. Regional organisations such as Asean can bring the perspectives to their of their people into global debates. We must have the confidence to speak for our regions, not be spoken for. Mr. president, I began by speaking about trust. Let me close where I began. The question before us may appear simple, but in truth it is profound. When people are suffering and when the world looks towards this whole. Will this organisation still answer the call for which it was created? Actions speak louder than words. My esteemed colleagues, we must restore trust, manage transformation, reform institutions that no longer serve current realities, and we must ensure that the rules of the global system apply equally to all. Malaysia will not turn away from the UN in its hour of difficulty. We will not abandon multilateralism just because it It is imperfect. We will do the hard work to make it worthy of the trust placed in it. Because we believe in multilateralism. Most of all, when. The alternative is a world ruled by power alone. Excellencies. 80 years ago, the founders of this organization resolved to save succeeding generations from war We are succeeding generation, and that promise now rests in our hands. The world needs a UN that delivers one, that ensures that international law is truly international, and guarantees that every region has a voice. And above all, wandered. Ordinary people can look to in their darkest hour and still believe that it will act. That the world has not forgotten them.

Excellencies. Before concluding, we would like to offer our most heartfelt gratitude to the Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, as this will. The final session of the General Assembly during his tenure. We thank him for leading the UN with unyielding dedication and patience through many unprecedented global upheavals. These are the qualities we will need to face our future as an organisation. And if there is anything that humanity has demonstrated throughout our history, it is our capacity to adapt. My esteemed colleague, Mr. President Zelensky's, led us adapt and prove ourselves worthy of the promise and trusted us. Thank you, Mr. President. I thank I thank the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia.