• 3 minutes ago
Speaking in his royal address at the Putrajaya Festival of Ideas on Friday (Nov 29), Sultan of Perak Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah said reform must be made to the United Nations (UN), World Bank and other international financial institutions to meet today’s globally interconnected challenges and crises.

He said a country’s development progress cannot be measured by economic indicators alone, but should also encompass social justice, human well-being, ecological balance, and peace.

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Transcript
00:00🎶
00:11Over the past two days, those of you gathered here have shared ideas
00:17and inspired one another to meet the challenges of tomorrow.
00:22I urge you to hold on to that renewed sense of purpose when you leave.
00:28This festival thus represents an important acknowledgement
00:34that development itself, as a concept and as a practice, can never stand still.
00:43It must constantly be reviewed, updated, and yes, broadened
00:50to meet the ever-changing needs of the present.
00:53When we survey the state of the world today, one trend is all too clear.
00:59Progress can no longer be taken for granted.
01:05Our present era is marked by acute political, economic, and environmental uncertainties,
01:15with geopolitical tensions in some places erupting into outright war.
01:23World hunger is on the rise after years of falling,
01:30with undernourishment reaching levels not seen for over a decade.
01:37At national and global levels, the gap between the richest and the poorest is widening.
01:47Force displacement is increasing at record rates,
01:52and civilian casualties in war are on an upward trend for the first time in years.
02:00I may go so far as to say that humanity itself is under threat
02:08as we face multiple existential crises.
02:13There is a growing sense that some parts of the world are being let down
02:19as well as being left behind.
02:21This disappointment reflects the broader structural issues with our international organisations.
02:30Almost 80 years after World War II ended,
02:34it is surely past time to reform the global institutions
02:40that were set up during and just after it.
02:45The United Nations, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund
02:54all continue to function based on the same outdated rules of global governance
03:02that were developed then.
03:04But while the geopolitical and economic environment have changed since 1945,
03:12and we now live in a multi-polar world,
03:16these historical and unrepresentative governance structures remain.
03:24Far-reaching reforms must be made to the United Nations
03:30and the international financial institutions
03:33so they can meet today's globally interconnected challenges.
03:38The American statesman and polymath Benjamin Franklin once said,
03:45when the well is dry, we know the worth of water.
03:52To which I add, let us not wait until that happens.
03:57Let us fix the well today.

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