Malaysia’s foreign minister Mohamad Hasan has raised one of the oldest and most uncomfortable questions surrounding the United Nations: why should five countries possess the power to prevent the UN Security Council from acting?
His argument that the veto should be challenged and ultimately abolished deserves serious attention. Expanding the Security Council alone cannot resolve its structural weaknesses.
More countries sitting around the table will mean little if five permanent members — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States — continue to hold powers unavailable to everyone else.
Yet there is an enormous difference between recognising the problem and solving it.
Abolishing the veto is practical as an aspiration but almost impossible under the present international system.
