OTTAWA - Canada's immigration minister yesterday rejected reversing a recent decision to require Malaysians to obtain a temporary entrance visa to come to Canada, which sparked sharp criticism from Malaysia.

"I took the final decision and that's it," said Denis Coderre, minister of Canadian citizenship and immigration.

Asked to respond to suggestions that the decision was based on stereotyping of different ethnicities or religions, Coderre said: "I disagree. There is a procedure and the procedure was respected, ... and we don't have any racial profiling in our country."

Speaking to reporters after a cabinet meeting here, Coderre stressed a firm "no" when asked whether he would reverse his decision.

Islamic countries targetted

Malaysia had urged Canada to review the new ruling requiring Malaysians to get temporary entrance visas, warning that the move could hurt Ottawa's ties with its top trading partner in Southeast Asia.

Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar expressed regret that the new visa ruling, which was also imposed on Saudi Arabia early this month, appeared to be targeted at Islamic countries.

The Malaysian embassy in Ottawa has sent a letter of protest to the Canadian government, he told the official Bernama news agency on the sidelines of the Asia-Europe Summit in Copenhagen.

"This is not good for the existing bilateral relations, and it will affect efforts to increase the two-way trade and investment," Syed Hamid said.

The Canadian government said on Monday that Malaysians, who had previously been exempted from visa requirements, must now apply for a "temporary resident visa" to enter the country because the Malaysian passport system was "vulnerable to abuse."

Similar requirement for Saudis

On Sept 5, Canada imposed a similar visa requirement on citizens of Saudi Arabia. In total, citizens of more than 145 countries now need visas to enter Canada.

Michael Blackmore, a spokesman for the Canadian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur, told AFP the decision was part of an ongoing immigration review and had "absolutely no linkages with race, religion or with Malaysia being an Islamic state."

He said earlier that Ottawa would issue an official response to Malaysia's request for a review and that it remained committed to enhancing economic and trade ties with Malaysia.

Canada exported RM825 million of goods to Malaysia in 2001, according to Statistics Canada. AFP