Paris - Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein, surprised with being elected to the Unesco executive board with the highest number of votes, said one of his immediate tasks was to sign a MoU between Unesco and Asean as part of the world body`s globalisation agenda.
“We will also help Unesco forge closer relations with the United Nations, Asean and the Commonwealth during the Commonwealth education ministers gathering in Kuala Lumpur in 2009,” he said.
He said together with the Philippines and Indonesia, (which was already in the board), the three Asean education ministers would work closely together for the common good of all. Hishamuddin obtained 147 votes to grab one of the six seats in the Asia Pacific group during the world body`s 34th general conference here. The five other countries were South Korea (139 votes), the Philippines (137); Sri Lanka (130), Mongolia (107) and Pakistan (106).
Hishamuddin will serve a four-year term in the 58-member executive board. Malaysia held the post between 2000 and 2003 when Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, then Education Minister, polled the highest number of 163 votes in the 1999 elections.
Najib, who was in France to witness the launching of Malaysia`s first submarine, said he was proud of Hishamuddin`s election to the board, attributing the achievement to Malaysia`s good education system which had been acknowledged by Unesco and the world and Hishamuddin`s leadership qualities.
“We have shown that we are capable of exporting our expertise to and sharing our knowledge with Unesco and other countries,” he added.
He also called on countries to make education as their most basic and priority objective.
He said in some countries, only 30% of their school-going children had the opportunity to attend classes.
This would have serious implications later on as the country would face a bleak future, he told Malaysian journalists before flying home yesterday.
On the submarine, Najib said it should not trigger an arms race in South-East Asia.
As with the purchase of Sukhoi jets from Russia, he said it was not something that caught the region by surprise.
He said Malaysia, which intended to join the ranks of developed nations, could not be seen as having the defence capability of a Third World country.
“How do you protect your national interest, your sovereignty, your maritime areas and all your petroleum assets if you don`t have the defence capability to do so?” he said.
“And naturally, they will replace their obsolete and antiquated assets with the current state-of-the-art technology based on their affordability,” he said.
Source: thestar.com.my (26 Oktober 2007)
