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| Southeast Asia |
| US-inspired 'anti-terror' centre draws condemnation |
| 2002-10-31 |
| Source: Ummahnews/Malaysiakini Malaysia's opposition leaders have hit out at the government for allowing the US-proposed regional anti-terrorism centre to be set up in the country. Parliamentary Opposition Leader and the Islamic Party (PAS) acting president Abdul Hadi Awang cautioned that the centre may open the door to the US to interfere in the countryâs security policy while DAP Wanita chief Chong Eng said the centre may make Malaysia more vulnerable to terrorist attacks. It's a lot easier to fix things when it's the local guys who're doing the investigating. They have wives and kiddies and such... US Secretary of State Colin Powell had first proposed the idea of the anti-terrorism centre during a recent visit to Malaysia. US President George W Bush announced the centre set-up last Sunday at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation leadersâ summit in Mexico after procuring Malaysiaâs agreement to the proposal. Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said at the same meeting that Malaysia had agreed to the proposed centre which is scheduled to start operation early next year. That's called "international cooperation"... Abdul Hadi, in an interview with Malaysiakini and PASâ Harakah in his room in Parliament, said that the agreement had shown the weaknesses of prime minister Mahathir Mohamad's national coalition in handling international politics. âIt (proposal) would only give lattitude for the US to interfere in the countryâs administration. While the US can send their officers to investigate the recent attacks in Bali and the Philippines, we do not know if the establishment of the anti-terrorism centre will enable FBI and CIA agents to simply enter our country and interfere with the countryâs security,â he said. Probably not. But it's a great bogeyman to raise, isn't it? |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |