Mahathir, Ramos surf the 'Internet'

Mahathir, Ramos surf the 'Internet'

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and Philippine President Fidel Ramos surfed the Internet together yesterday, while Palestine leader Yasser Arafat was beached by a technical fault.

The dialog, touted by its Malaysian organizers as the first event of its kind, saw Mahathir and Ramos chatting on the Internet for about 20 minutes, to mark the launch of the online version of Malaysia's Malay daily, the Utusan Malaysia.

"You look very handsome on the computer," Ramos told a grinning Mahathir, who promptly complained that his screen picture of Ramos was jerky, "something like in the old movies."

When the Philippine president offered Mahathir his Internet address, the Malaysian premier, a vocal backer of local information technology ventures, admitted: "I am still a little bit nervous about using the Internet."