I refer to the highly insensitive remarks by Harry Lee in his reference to the recent interview of Dr Mahathir Mohamad with Al-Jazeera pertaining to the US-led war against Iraq.

As a fellow human being, is there anything wrong about being sympathetic to the sufferings of the Iraqi people, whose land and sovereignty have been invaded and totally devastated?

I am ashamed of you if you are indeed a Malaysian, to have openly expressed your views and perception o­n the current war as well as for your misjudged comments o­n Mahathir's noble cause in trying to end the war through the courtesy of Al-Jazeera . As a strong supporter of Mahathir and the Barisan Nasional government, I believe that our beloved prime minister has done international justice to champion the cause of the Iraqi people in defence of their territorial rights of abode and sovereignty.

We, as Malaysians should be proud and supportive of Mahathir's vision in his attempts to consolidate international awareness in order to sustain peace and economic stability not o­nly in the Middle East and Arab League countries, Africa, Asia, Europe but also in the Americas including the United States. Let me remind Lee that even the opposition and NGOs have expressed their support openly in protest of the war, out of their own conviction which indirectly reaffirmed the foreign policy of Mahathir's administration.

I believe that most of us are not anti-American or anti-British and we are not hypocritical about our relations with US or UK, with whom we have cherished long and cordial diplomatic relations, even before our independence in 1957. I do not subscribe to the theory that the Bush and Blair administrations will retaliate with negative actions by initiating economic sanctions towards Malaysia and other countries who are opposed to the US-led war against Iraq. Bilateral and multilateral diplomatic relations are based o­n the fundamental economic interest of a win-win situation and no nation can go against the universal winds of fortune and survival under any circumstances.

I am also sensitive to protecting the spirit of journalism, for which I believe that Malaysians should be encouraged to cover the war, which is a positive journalistic attitude and thus reflects their sacrifices, courage and bravery in the name of humanitarian endeavours.

I am sure that Lee will agree and share my humble view that media reporting of the war by the brave journalists including the cameramen and other crew members, is essential to provide the true situation and reflection of the ugly side of the war, thus eliminating the propaganda process of all parties involved in the conflict.

However, it is viewed with deep regret that the media reporting and movements of journalists had been curtailed and monitored by the authorities concerned at the war zone as reported recently, which is totally against human rights and contrary to the spirit of press freedom.