Mind your own business, Syed Hamid tells foreign Human Rights groups

Posted by: raja petra

(Bernama) -- Mind your own business. This is the candid response from Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar to foreign human rights groups who have called for a royal commission of inquiry to investigate whether the authorities had breached human rights laws in handling last Saturday's illegal assembly in Kuala Lumpur.



He said although Malaysia was a democratic country, democracy did not equate to lawlessness.



"Let me put it this way... Malaysia will govern the country in its own way.



"You still have to abide by the law, so I don't think any country's human rights body can tell other countries what it should do," he told reporters after hosting lunch for his counterpart from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sven Alkalaj, at a hotel here today.



Syed Hamid said foreign human rights groups should instead look at correcting the wrongs in their respective countries and improving their own justice system.



"In the past we've seen what they have prescribed for a country, there's always trouble in that countries. They should just look after their own country and see whether there are things that can be improved and then maybe we can learn from them.



He said Malaysia allowed rallies provided they were staged in accordance with the law.



Alkalaj, accompanied by senior government officials and representatives from the country's private sector is in Malaysia on a three-day visit since Tuesday.



Syed Hamid said he and Alkalaj had very fruitful discussions and both Malaysia and Bosnia and Herzegovina can learn a lot from each other, especially in areas of defence and technology.



"As we know Bosnia has a very strong technology industry and I think even in the defence industry they are very strong and modernised because of their past experiences.



"In our case, the defence industry is still in its infancy. So there is interest in developing cooperative efforts between our two countries," he said.



Syed Hamid said Alkalaj had also been looking at development modules in Malaysia suitable for application in Bosnia because the country was similar to Malaysia with its multi-ethnic, cultural and religious society.



He said Alkalaj also visited the Economic Planning Unit in the Prime Minister's Department and addressed a seminar on business and investment opportunities in his country.