Malaysia hopes the crisis involving  Qatar and other Middle Eastern states will be resolved without delay.

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said this was because unity was the foundation for regional and international progress.

"Malaysia wants to be friends with all nations and we are still maintaining good ties with our friends. The crisis involving the countries concerned is a regional problem," he said.

Zahid, who is also Home Minister, told this to reporters after attending an "Assimilation of Noble Values" programme for his ministry's staff at the Police Training Centre in Kuala Lumpur tonight.

Asked if Saudi Arabia had applied any pressure on Malaysia regarding the crisis, Zahid replied in the negative.

A number of Middle Easter countries led by Saudi Arabia and Egpyt have severed ties with Qatar citing that the emirate supports terrorist groups.

Meantime, Zahid denied rumours saying three Hamas figures from Palestine, who all these while were sheltered by Qatar, were in Malaysia.

"I deny this because the names we obtained via intelligence have been checked by the Immigration Department and they are not in Malaysia," he said.

Meanwhile, on the bullying of a Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) student Zurfarhan Osman Zulkarnain, 21, who died on Thursday, Zahid wanted investigations to be conducted comprehensively so that "no stone was left unturned".

In another development, when asked about the appointment of Idris Jala as a neutral party to look into the crisis besetting Felda Global Ventures Holdings Berhad (FGV), Zahid said an internal audit had been carried out.

"In my opinion, the appointment of Idris is to look into the audit and surely there are several decisions which have resulted in huge losses to FGV.

"We know that since the investigation started,  market capitalisation dropped and this is not a good development," he said.

Zahid said that hoped the appointment of Idris could speed up investigations especially in terms of management audit and help to boost investor confidence in FGV.

The Prime Minister's Office, in a statement today, announced that Idris, the president and chief executive officer of Pemandu Associates Sdn Bhd, had been appointed as a neutral party to scrutinise the facts of the case and propose solutions on the decision to suspend FGV's group president and chief executive officer Zakaria Arshad, the chief financial officer and two others.

--Bernama