Wednesday May 14, 2008
Many of our laws inherited from colonial days, says Rais
By CHOI TUCK WO
LONDON: Malaysia has told Britain that its laws are domestic issues and internal affairs of the country.
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said this when British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs David Miliband voiced concern over certain laws that he felt might cause problems in countries like Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.
»If any law is deemed to be fearful ( serik) in Malaysia, it’ll be the same too in Singapore and Brunei« DATUK SERI DR RAIS YATIM Although no specific laws were mentioned, it is believed they were related to Malaysia’s Internal Security Act (ISA).
Dr Rais said many of the Malaysian laws were inherited from the British during the colonial days. “So, if any law is deemed to be fearful (serik) in Malaysia, it’ll be the same too in Singapore and Brunei,” he told Malaysian journalists after calling on Miliband here on Monday.
Dr Rais urged Britain to change its attitude towards countries in the Far East such as Malaysia.
“They should focus more on these countries due to their historical, political and legal links with Britain,” he said.
Earlier, Dr Rais was elected chairman of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group on the Harare Declaration. During the meeting, the group decided to readmit Pakistan after a six-month suspension.
He called on Britain to help rejuvenate the Commonwealth into sharing some of its “common wealth” with the 53-member states.
The grouping, he added, could expand into areas such as culture, the arts, heritage, youth and training for the benefit of member countries.
The minister expressed concern that Britain – apart from attending the annual Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) – seemed to have few programmes with member states.
He said Miliband also sought Malaysia’s assistance to get Asean to help Britain extend humanitarian aid to the cyclone victims in Myanmar.
Dr Rais said Britain had experienced difficulty in despatching relief aid worth £5mil to Myanmar.
He said Asean would meet in Singapore on May 19 to discuss Britain’s request as well as ways to send aid to the disaster-hit country.
Dr Rais also received a cheque for RM11,275 from Malaysia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva Datuk Hsu Kang Bee for the victims.
The money was collected from Malaysia’s 24 heads of missions in Europe for the Tabung Bencana Wisma Putra for victims of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar.
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