AUSTRALIAN MPs ACTED AGAINST COMMONWEALTH ETHICS

KUALA LUMPUR, March 17 (Bernama) -- The action of Australia's 50 Members of
Parliament (MP) to interfere in the internal affairs of Malaysia was not in line
with ethics of the Commonwealth principles, the House of Representatives was
told Tuesday.

A Member of Parliament Ismail Mohamed Said said their action was tantamount
to not respecting the ideals of the Commonwealth member countries and their
Commonwealth Parliament Association (CPA) membership should be suspended.

"Foreign communities should respect Malaysia’s laws as the country had
always propagated respect for the judicial systems of other countries and MPs
from Commonwealth countries must know the constitution of a country he said when
debating the royal address in House of Representatives here Tuesday.

Ismail said he was disappointed with some people in the country who attempt
to disrupt the peace and harmony enjoyed by the country since 53 years of
independence.

"In reality, it is the people who within who are actually destroying peace
and harmony of the country. When their efforts are not successful, they seek
help from outside," he said.


Ismail was referring to the formal protest by Australian members of
parliament last month, urging Malaysia to drop the sodomy case against People's
Justice Party (Parti Keadilan Rakyat)’s de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim.

The People's Justice Party (Malay: Parti Keadilan Rakyat, often known simply
as Keadilan) is a centrist political party in Malaysia formed in 2003 by a
merger of the National Justice Party and the older Malaysian People's Party.

Meanwhile, Chua Tee Yong, another MP urged the government to evaluate the
Brain Gain Malaysia programme, introduced to attract more Malaysian
professionals working overseas, to return and serve the country.

He said various initiatives and incentives were being offered to avoid the
brain drain but such initiatives were not aggressive and the results not
satisfactory.

"Look at reasons for the failure of the policy. Income tax exemption, on all
personal belongings, no import duty on two cars, and non-Malaysian spouses and
children would be given permanent resident status within six months, seems not
enough," he said.

He added that families of such people must be given incentives like location
of their house, job opportunities for spouses and education for the children.

The "Returning Scientist Programme" started in 1995, was only able to
attract 93 researchers, scientists and engineers to return over a three year
period and to date, less than 600 have accepted such offers, he said.

The House of Representatives continues Wednesday.

-- BERNAMA