KUALA LUMPUR, 24 May 2004 — Without a strong leadership and more resources, the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) risks becoming irrelevant. The OIC has been long on rhetoric but short on action. Since its inception in 1969 the OIC summits have produced some 3200 resolutions ranging from the boycott of Israel to raising the level of economic, cultural and political cooperation among the member countries.
Very few substantive resolutions have ever been implemented. One senior staff at the OIC Secretariat admitted that less than 10 percent of the resolutions on political cooperation have ever seen daylight.
The OIC has in the past passed many resolutions urging member countries to vote with one voice in international forums like the UN. With the exception of one resolution over Bosnia, the OIC has never voted as a bloc in the UN despite earlier agreement.
Iraq is not the only challenge to the OIC. Palestine, Afghanistan, Sudan, Jammu and Kashmir, Ivory Coast — to name some — present different facets of political problems that deserve attention.
Poverty, education, empowerment of women, technology, economic cooperation, diseases like AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, human migration, civil wars, malnutrition as well as human rights are hardcore internal issues largely ignored by the OIC member states. The OIC has no budgeted programs to address these hardcore problems, unlike other international organizations.
Besides leadership, OIC has a cash-flow problem — resulting mainly from late payments and failure to pay mandatory contribution. Only eighteen countries pay their contribution on a regular basis. Ten members have not paid their dues for the last ten years. As of June 2003, the arrears from non-contribution to the Secretariat and subsidiary organs have reached $110 million. The Secretariat spends more than ninety percent of its current budget ($8.6 million annually) on its staff. It has no budget for development projects. The Saudis pay the most to the OIC. The diversity of OIC membership has its own nuances and problems. But this is no excuse for poor performance. All international organizations by definition are diverse in nature and yet they are quite successful.
The chairmanship of the summit rotates among member countries every four years. In the remaining period of its chairmanship Malaysia should formulate an agenda for change that can strengthen and transform the Jeddah-based Secretariat which should act as the nerve center for all OIC-related activities.
Malaysia can begin by focusing on some core issues, including:
• Improving the governance capabilities of the General Secretariat.
• Improving the work processes and culture at the Secretariat by applying enabling technology and strengthening the budgetary policies and practices will enhance confidence in the leadership. Three things need to happen quickly: A more rigorous fiscal discipline, accountability and a more transparent financial management system that relies on sound accounting practices like the International Public Sector Accounting Standards.
• Establishing a representative office of the chairman in the Secretariat will enable the latter to oversee and codirect the activities of the OIC.
• Ensuring that some one with impeccable credentials and who commands full support of the incumbent chairman becomes the next secretary-general (the incumbent will relinquish office in December 2004) will restore some confidence in the institution. A person with an assertive personality and international exposure in the UN, for example, can help implement the transformation programs in the General Secretariat.
• Reviewing the 1974 Charter is a must. Perhaps it is now timely to introduce sanctions against defaulters as the UN has done (Article 19 in UN Charter permits sanctions for non-payment of assessed contribution). The Commonwealth of Nations bars defaulting members from participating in summit meetings and from receiving technical assistance.
• It is imperative that the chairman takes special efforts to make the OIC relevant by improving on the quality of management in the Secretariat to better serve the interests of the member states and by becoming proactive on issues of common concerns to the member states.
• New strategies involving the private sector and members of the civil society need to be thought of as the OIC painfully forges ahead. It may even be necessary to rethink on practical means to expand intra-OIC trade that has been languishing at ten percent for several decades. It is timely to refocus on the objectives of the OIC and concentrate on one or two projects that have long-term positive impact on the member states.
• There is also merit in rethinking over the continued relevance of the OIC as a political institution. This calls for moral courage on the part of the leaders in the OIC to undertake out-of-the-box analysis. For it to survive it must continue to be responsive to merit support. It must adapt and change some of its old ways.
The OIC can no longer be in the-usual— business-mode as it confronts new challenges. The OIC needs to be action-oriented; no more rhetoric, please.
— Ba Hamzah is a specialist in international relations. Holds a Ph. D. from Flether School of Law and Diplomacy, Medford, USA. e-mail: [email protected]
