Singapore and the United Nations


The Republic of Singapore officially became the 117th member of the United Nations after its independence on August 9, 1965. From 2001 to 2002, Singapore held a rotational seat on the United Nations Security Council and has participated in UN peacekeeping/observer missions in Kuwait, Angola, Kenya, Cambodia and Timor Leste.

History

Before independence, Singapore had merged with the Federation of Malaya with North Borneo and Sarawak to form Malaysia on August 31, 1963 and at that time, the Federation of Malaya was already a member of the UN. Due to distrust and ideological differences between leaders of the State of Singapore and the federal government of Malaysia, Singapore became an independent state about 2 years after the union, on August 9, 1965.
Requirements for joining the United Nations under the UN Charter of the time required sponsorship by minimum of 2 members on the United Nations Security Council, support from the members on the council and about 67% of the votes during the United Nations General Assembly to be successfully admitted into the organisation. After independence, Singapore applied to join the UN on September 2, 1965 with the sponsorship of Malaysia, the United Kingdom, Ivory Coast and Jordan. On September 20, 1965, Singapore's admission to the UN was put into vote in the security council and the result of the vote was unanimous. Singapore was then officially registered as a member of the UN on September 21, 1965, with Abu Bakar bin Pawanchee serving as the first permanent representative to the UN.
Since then, Singapore has been actively participating in UN peacekeeping operations. In 1997, the country became only the seventh country to sign the Memorandum of Understanding on UN Standby Arrangements.

Activities

Security Council

During the 2000 United Nations Security Council election, Singapore was elected as one of the five non-permanent members of the UN Security Council and served a two-year term from 2001 to 2002. In January 2001 and May 2002, Ambassador Kishore Mahbubani, the permanent representative of Singapore then, served as the President of the United Nations Security Council together with Ambassador S. Jayakumar. During Singapore's time on the security council, it managed to lobbied for a time extension for the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor until East Timor's independence, despite objection from a permanent member on the council.

Peacekeeping and observer missions

Singapore's first peacekeeping mission was to oversee Namibia’s transition to independence, was in response to an urgent call for help from then UN General-Secretary Javier Perez de Cuellar on 29 March 1989. Since 1989, Singapore has taken part in 17 peacekeeping and observer missions with personnel from the Singapore Armed Forces and Singapore Police Force.

Representation

New York and Geneva

Singapore maintains two permanent missions to the UN. With one in New York, which is headed by Ambassador Burhan Gafoor and one in Geneva, which is headed by Ambassador Foo Kok Jwee.