U.S. visa plans unfair to Muslims: Malaysia

U.S. visa plans unfair to Muslims: Malaysia

Agencies, Kuala Lumpur

New United States visa restrictions on Muslim men from 25
countries will undermine Washington's claim that Islam is not the
enemy in the war on terrorism, Malaysia warned on Monday.

The international coalition against terror could be weakened,
Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told an official news
conference called to protest the move, which targets Muslim men
aged 16 to 45.

The new rules would "serve to reinforce the perception among a
significant section of the international community including the
Muslim community that the U.S. singles out Muslims in its war
against terrorism, the minister said.

"This perception should be avoided in the collective efforts
toward building an international coalition and consensus against
terrorism," he added.

"It will in fact aggravate the situation. Muslim countries
will feel alienated and Muslims will feel alienated because
terrorists are not only Muslims. There are terrorists all over
the world," Syed said.

Malaysia's government and opposition showed rare unity in
criticizing U.S. plans to slow down visa application procedures
from more than 20 countries, including Malaysia, where Islam is a
primary religion.

Announced by the State Department last week, the new rules aim
to give officials time to screen applicants from that group for
evidence of past terrorist activities. The process is expected to
be lengthened by bout 20 days.

"If it is true, it is discriminatory," Syed said, adding the
government was trying to confirm news reports about the plan with
the U.S. Embassy.

"We feel surprised and we feel in some way offended. This is
not going to help in getting rid of the impression that this is
Muslims against America or the West against Muslims," Syed said.

Muslim-majority Malaysia condemned the Sept. 11 terror attacks
on the U.S., which led to the visa curbs, but criticizes the
retaliatory bombing of Afghanistan, saying it kills innocent
people.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in a low-key initial reaction
at the weekend the regulations, imposed on Friday, suggested that
the U.S. was shifting its focus increasingly to Muslims and
Muslim countries.

"This is disheartening as we know that presently there are
also terrorists among non-Muslims," he said, referring to the
Oklahoma City bombing by American Timothy McVeigh in 1995.

Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi called the assumption
that young Muslim males could be terrorists "wild and arbitrary",
and also suggested the visa curbs would hurt the U.S. campaign to
convince the world that it was fighting terrorism and not Islam.

"The possibility of they being terrorists is a random
assumption ... a wild one," Abdullah was quoted as saying late on
Sunday by the Bernama national news agency.

Defense Minister Najib Tun Razak said Malaysia should not have
been included in the list of 25 countries as it had "continuously
campaigned against terrorism acts by various groups."

Lim Kit Siang, chairman of the ethnic Chinese-based opposition
Democratic Action Party, said the new rules "can only strengthen
international opinion that the U.S. is conducting a war between
the West and Islam" following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in
the U.S.

Countries affected by the new rules are Afghanistan, Algeria,
Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan,
Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar,
Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab
Emirates and Yemen.