MALAYSIAN DIPLOMATS MUST ADHERE TO CHANGE

KOTA KINABALU (Malaysia), Dec 13 (Bernama) -- Malaysian diplomats must
adhere to change, including change in the country's leadership, in carrying out
their duties.

Former Malaysian ambassador to Venezuela, John Tenewi Nuek, said diplomats
were not in a position to criticise or compare the leadership styles of former
and current prime ministers, but should work to establish closer relations with
other nations.

"We have to consider the realities at hand and not based on what one person
says about another. Our (diplomats) main job at hand is to forge relations," he
said during a question-and-answer session at the "Malaysia's Foreign Policy and
International Relations" forum, here, Saturday.

Nuek was replying to a participant who asked how the different leadership
styles of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his predecessor Dr Mahathir
Mohamed affected the role of Malaysian diplomats.

Meanwhile, on Malaysia's foreign policies, Universiti Teknologi Mara's
(UiTM) director of the Institute of Asean Studies and Global Affairs, Dr Mohd
Yusof Ahmad, said the role of prime ministers was extremely important in
formulating the policies, but diplomats played a critical role in the
implementation.

"All our five prime ministers played extremely important roles in
determining the country's foreign policies. But a diplomat's task is to analyse
how these policies affect other nations and determine a better way of
implementing them.

"Some may not agree to certain leaders' style of governing. But what is
important is to look at the substance and not the rhetorics of the leaders,"
said Mohd Yusof, who served as Malaysia's High Commissioner to Bangladesh
(2001-2002) and ambassador to Spain (2006-2008).

He said during Dr Mahathir's administration, the former premier was
known to be anti-West, but it did not stop economic activities in Malaysia,
such as investments from western countries.
-- BERNAMA