Britain attempts to mend trade rift through education

Britain attempts to mend trade rift through education

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Britain's education minister made a pitch
yesterday to mend the Anglo-Malaysian trade rift by pledging
London's full support for Malaysia's plan to become a regional
center of education excellence.

"We shall continue to work vigorously to bring about a
situation in which the Malaysian government feels able to lift
its ban on public sector contracts and British companies," said
John Patten, the British Secretary of State for Education.

Britain's extensive support towards elevating Malaysia's
educational sector would continue despite the trade ban, Patten
said on arrival for a three-day visit at the head of an 12-member
educational mission.

He is the first British minister to visit Kuala Lumpur since
Malaysia banned British firms from new government contracts on
Feb. 25, following allegations in the British media of corruption
in Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's administration.

London's Sunday Times has been singled out by Malaysia for its
Feb. 20 article alleging links between Mahathir and a British
construction group, Wimpey International.

Patten told a press conference that his visit here as a guest
of the Malaysian government was arranged before the rift erupted,
and said the British government had made very clear it wanted to
see a resumption quickly of "wholly normal relations."

"As (British Foreign Secretary) Douglas Hurd said in the House
of Commons last week, we cannot allow the press to come between
us," Patten added.

Patten noted that Mahathir had also made his own views known
in a very striking letter to London's Financial Times several
weeks ago, "stating Malaysia's case very clearly".

Mahathir said on British television on Sunday that he would
only review the ban if the British press stopped "telling lies
about Malaysia and its leaders."

"We will see if there is a change in the attitude of the press
in the United Kingdom," Mahathir said.

"Certainly the British press has been pretty quiet over the
issue for the last two or three weeks," Patten added.

"I do hope it wouldn't be too long before the first footsteps
are taken towards the warm waters of mutual relations and to
wholly normal relations," Patten said.

Patten stressed that trade benefited both economies, while
welcoming the fact that educational projects were unaffected by
the ban.

"We will discuss how to develop further twinning programs
between Malaysian and British institutions and explore efforts
towards helping the government raise the standard of English
language teaching here," Patten said.

At present, 13,000 Malaysians are studying in Britain and 50
British universities and colleges are linked with Malaysian
institutions under some 100 educational twinning programs, he
said.