The biggest flaw in the 13th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit is the lack of a parallel conference for non-governmental organisations to encourage input by civil society organisations, said DAP national chairperson Lim Kit Siang today.

He said such a practice is a norm in major international conferences but none of the NAM summits has done this.

"Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had called o­n NGOs around the world to mobilise the people to demonstrate and influence their governments to protest war o­n Iraq.

"But the crucial question is whether NGOs in the NAM countries would be allowed to demonstrate and influence their governments in the cause of freedom, justice, democracy and good governance?" he asked in a statement.

Lim said the 114 member countries would have to project a meaning and purpose to the movement and not o­nly speak about the looming war o­n Iraq but also pledge their commitment to justice, freedom, democracy and good governance in their countries.

"This means that those who attend the NAM summit tomorrow must stand up against o­ne of the most blatant injustices in this country and call for the immediate release of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim," he said.

Anwar is currently undergoing a 15-year prison sentence o­n charges of sodomy and corruption.

The former political stalwart, who was sacked from his post in 1998, claims to be a victim of political conspiracy, but the allegation has been denied.

NAM's relevance

Lim said participation by the people and civil society organisations is important, especially after last week's global anti-war protest involving up to 30 million people.

He added that this must be done in order to rediscover NAM's relevance.

The veteran politician was responding to Malaysian Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Hasmy Agam's statement yesterday that the question of NAM's relevance should be set aside while revitalisation is o­ngoing.

Hasmy, the incoming head of the Malaysian National Secretariat for NAM, had also told Bernama in an interview that he felt the issue of the movement's relevance has been fully exhausted.

"Introspection is good and it is a healthy trend...all of us should introspect from time to time but there must be a limit to introspection. Otherwise, you will continue not to take action," he said.

However, Lim refuted this and said by setting aside the discussion o­n NAM's relevance is "putting the cart before the horse as the single biggest challenge of the summit is to rediscover its relevance in the 21st century".

He added the movement's relevance was lost and not recovered since the end of the Cold War and the era of bi-polar world politics.

He said this happened despite three NAM summits Indonesia (1992), Colombia (1995) and South Africa (1998) - calling for "revitalisation" and even "renaissance".

Funeral for NAM

The DAP chief pointed out the loss of NAM's relevance had resulted in its member countries feeling reluctant to host their meeting, usually held every three years.

"This is why the 13th NAM Summit is held five years after the last o­ne in Durban, South Africa.

"The time in the 1960s and 1970s when there was a queue of countries wanting to host the NAM summit which was deemed prestigious, was no more," he said.

Lim said Bangladesh, which was to host the event in 2001, withdrew in October that year, prompting an Indian newspaper to comment, "It made out that NAM was dead and it would not be worthwhile for it to hold its funeral".

He added Jordan, which offered to host the summit last year, also cancelled its plan in April before Malaysia was requested to save the day and host the twice-delayed event.

The 13th NAM summit will be held in Kuala Lumpur from Feb 20-25 at the Putra World Trade Centre.