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| Malaysia and Indonesia must work to resolve issues: Malay PM |
| 03-SEP-2010 | The Star |
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| 3 Sep, 2010 - 7:09:00 AM |
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Malaysia and Indonesia must work together to resolve the current tension affecting the two countries, said Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
The prime minister said both countries should resolve the issues that arose and ensure no other parties got involved to make matters worse.
"If there is an incident, we must work to resolve it and not resort to protests that were over the top such as those which took place recently," he told a press conference after receiving a Merdeka celebration card from pupils of SK Bukit Damansara here yesterday.
Najib said the government would not issue a travel advisory against Malaysians visiting Indonesia unless the situation in the republic worsened.
Najib said he would consult Wisma Putra about an incident in which the home of a 60-year-old Malaysian engineer in West Kalimantan was pelted with stones by five men wearing "Ganyang (Crush) Malaysia" headbands on Tuesday.
Najib also said that in matters concerning two neighbouring countries, it was difficult to stop any problem from arising especially when territorial issues involving vast open waters remained unresolved.
Meanwhile, the PM said the introduction of the New Economic Model (NEM) was not meant to remove completely the New Economic Policy (NEP), adding that the government would continue to look after the interests of bumiputras.
"We are very measured in whatever steps we take because at the end of the day, we have to consider the interests of all Malaysians," Najib said.
He was commenting on former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's warning recently that the removal of the NEP could cause greater racial tension, as the time was not right to introduce any policy that disregarded disparities among the races in the interest of equity and merit.
Asked to comment on claims by Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali that the 1Malaysia concept was not based on equality as the Constitution protected the rights of bumiputras, Najib said the concept was predicated on the government being fair to all Malaysians.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/9/2/nation/6966787&sec=nation
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