Imminent threat of nuclear catastrophe...

As world leaders prepare to fly to Washington for the Nuclear Security Summit, I had the chance of meeting former Australian Foreign Minister Prof Gareth Evans, an expert on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. He co-chairs the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (ICNND), which has produced a 230-page report described as the most comprehensive ever produced on the issue.

As we sat for the interview on level 33 of Hilton KL overlooking the Lake Gardens and Parliament House, Evans spoke about the commission's work, his passionate commitment to a world completely-free of nuclear weapon and the imminent danger of nuclear catastrophe.
Drawing his attention to Malaysia, I asked him what role could Malaysia provide at the two-day summit, called by US President Barrack Obama, starting tomorrow.
"Malaysia has been traditionally a very important voice for disarmament, non-proliferation (of nuclear weapons)...very powerful, very articulate voice within the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).
He said Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak's presence at the summit is important as a demonstration of Malaysia's commitment.
"It is crucial that Malaysia play a positive role as there are a number of issues on which some Non-Aligned Movement countries are going to be very difficult".
"People will be looking to Malaysia for guidance on these issues and it's important for Malaysia to play that constructive role.
"I know it's not a big issue in the Malaysian public consciousness at the moment, but the point is, Malaysia has a well-known voice and well-established track record," said Evans who will be part of the Australian delegation at the summit.
"What we have to ensure is, we get the best possible results on disarmament, best possible results on moving ahead on the Middle-East Nuclear Weapons Free Zone which is another big issue at the conference and the strengthening of the non-proliferation treaty regime."
The summit, to be attended by leaders from more than 40 countries, is part of Obama's ambitious goal of creating a new system to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons and nuclear material, particularly highly-enriched uranium.
Evans was in Malaysia last week as part of his visit to the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty (NPT) party countries to promote the work of the ICNND and advocate a practical agenda for global policy makers in eliminating nuclear threats.
In its report, the commission had recommended that nuclear disarmament should be pursued as a step-by-step process with "minimisation" to be achieved, no later than 2025 and "elimination" as soon as possible, thereafter.

Asked why the public should be more concerned of the issue, Evans said "because there is a very real danger of the world blowing itself up".
"There are 23,000 nuclear warheads out there at the moment, of which 2,000 are on high alert even 20 years after the Cold War," he noted.
The number of nuclear warheads could translate into "150,000 Hiroshima-bomb size, capable of destroying the world, many times over", he cautioned.
"We know now, how often that even with the supposedly sophisticated command and control system, often we came close to catastrophic danger, either through human or machine error or just sheer stupidity, miscalculation.
"I've got plenty of such stories," said Evans, who was Australian foreign minister from 1988 to 1996.
He said the world was facing an even bigger danger than it was during the Cold War days because more nuclear states were coming into the game with less sophisticated control and command system.
It was also faced with "unknown realities" of terrorists willing to cause maximum destruction if they could get their hands on the weapons.
"What we are saying, in terms of global issue, this one is right up there alongside climate change because the world could be destroyed by something going wrong," he said.