Neighbors should stop blaming Malaysia

V.K. Chin, The Star, Asia News Network/Selangor, Malaysia

It is time that foreign governments, especially neighboring ones, stop blaming Malaysia for some of its security and social problems.

While Malaysia has always tried to be a good neighbor and ready to extend all possible assistance to its neighbors in all fields, yet some governments are using us when they have a spot of domestic difficulty.

This is grossly unfair and the latest allegations come from Thailand where its senior officials have been saying that we are providing shelter for Thai Muslim extremists operating in the south.

Last week Bangkok said Langkawi, a popular holiday resort, was being used to plan some of the terrorist groups activities in southern Thailand. Unfortunately, such allegations were not substantiated and neither has Malaysia been given details of such so-called meetings.

Such remarks, unless countered, may give the impression that Malaysia has not been doing much to deal with terror groups.

But the Government has never been found wanting in providing such co-operation, especially when it comes to dealing with terror groups, whose main objective is to kill or maim indiscriminately to further their cause.

However, Malaysia's security agencies can only act if they have the information, preferably provided by the countries which are facing terror acts on their soil.

If the Thais have information about such groups meeting in this country, they should inform us so that our security people can act accordingly to prevent such incidents.

When it comes to dealing with terror groups, Malaysia has a good record and other countries including the Western powers have acknowledged its actions in this field.

Should any of its neighbors need assistance and co-operation in this field, they can rest assured that Malaysia will do its part in meeting such request even to the extent of taking action against Malaysians involved in such activities.

But only the governments concerned can provide personal details of those allegedly taking shelter or attending covert meetings in this country.

Asean citizens can come in as visitors without a visa for two weeks and without privileged information, it will be impossible to distinguish a terrorist suspect from a genuine tourist.

The last thing we need is for foreign terrorists teaming up with local ones to cause mayhem and mischief.

Due to the seriousness of such bomb attacks, Malaysia can be counted on to act on every piece of information to prevent people from being harmed by such irresponsible and destructive groups.