The Hindu : Malaysian minister expresses regret

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 13, 2003

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Malaysian minister expresses regret

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI MARCH 12. The Malaysian Minister for Entrepreneurial Development, Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, met the Union Human Resource Development Minister, Murli Manohar Joshi, today and expressed "regret" at the ill-treatment of Indian nationals in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.

An official statement on the meeting quoted Mr. Abdul Aziz as saying that the action against Indian nationals, a majority of them IT professionals, was unfortunate and his Government was "seriously looking" into the matter. Mr. Aziz maintained that action would be taken against the authorities responsible for the incident. According to him, the Malaysian Government had no intention of condoning the action.

Admitting that there were excesses on the part of Malaysian authorities, he requested Dr. Joshi to see that the incident did not have any negative impact on the friendly relations between the two countries. For his part, Dr. Joshi hoped that the incident would not be repeated and demanded "strict action" against those guilty.

In a related development, the Foreign Office spokesman said if Indian nationals were targeted in a drive against illegal immigrants, then the campaign was "misguided" in its implementation. Making it clear that the "issue was very much on the table", the spokesman said it was important to note that the drive was aimed at unskilled workers. Indian IT professionals, on the other hand, had even been issued smart cards by the Malaysian Government. Asked what the assessment of the Government was on the drastic action taken by the Malaysian authorities, the spokesman said he would not like to hazard a guess. India, however, was keen to get at the root of the matter.

The spokesman had no hesitation in saying that the incident had cast a shadow on bilateral relations."We have reiterated our request for quick answers (about why it had occurred)."

CII deeply distressed

Our Special Correspondent reports:

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) today wrote to the Malaysian High Commission about the ill-treatment of Indian IT professionals in Kuala Lumpur.

In a letter submitted to the High Commissioner, the CII said it was "deeply distressed" at the harassment. It pointed out that these personnel had been working in that country "with proper permission and approvals, providing a service to Malaysia and the Malaysian economy".

The CII urged the High Commission to take up the issue with the Malaysian authorities and "advise it of the causes of this action and the remedies going forward''. The action taken against the IT professionals would create a "crisis of confidence'' and serious apprehensions about the policy towards trade and technology cooperation.

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