Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was asked to take off his shoes and belt during an immigration check while flying from Los Angeles to New York City, a government backbencher told Parliament today.

While debating the Budget 2003, Zulhasnan Rafique (BN-Wangsa Maju) said the United States Immigration had "embarrassed" Abdullah with stringent checks although the premier-in-waiting held a diplomatic passport and a G-visa, which was issued to government representatives.

According to Zulhasnan, Abdullah was held up at the Los Angeles airport and forced to undergo stringent checks while on his way to speak at the United Nations' General Assembly in New York last month.

"These [checks] included [forcing] the deputy prime minister to take off his shoes and belt," he lamented.

"If this [were to happen] to me, it is fine, for who am I? [After all,] I do not have a diplomatic or G-visa to say that I represent the government," Zulhasan said.

"But as this happened to our deputy premier, I want to ask the Foreign Ministry to explain if any such [requirements were made of] other government leaders who visited the US," he continued.

I was not exempted: Pak Lah

When asked to comment on the incident after chairing an Umno supreme council meeting this afternoon, Abdullah said he was not exempted from the security checks.

"Everyone was asked to remove their shoes, including the pilot," he said. "So I took off [my shoes], I didn't asked to be exempted."

In his speech in Parliament, Zulhasan also urged all relevant authorities not to allow such incidents to occur again.

The backbencher wanted to know if there was either a misunderstanding or miscommunication between the Malaysian Embassy, the Foreign Affairs Consulate General and the US Immigration Department, which led to the incident.

"What we are more worried about is whether the (US) authorities had done this on purpose," he said.

"If this can happen to our leaders, do we then have the same security procedures in our country where we can also use the same measures on leaders and prominent figures who visit from that (US) country?" he added.

'Pro-business' budget

Meanwhile, during the debate, Kerk Kim Hock (DAP-Kota Melaka) conceded that the Budget 2003 was generally "pro-business".

Kerk, who is DAP secretary-general, said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad was bound to announce a "pro-people" budget next year to show his gratitude to the people for having made him the longest-serving premier.

"Secondly, [Mahathir wants] to win support for the Barisan Nasional through goodies in an election budget," he added.

However, Kerk said "fears of terrorism and the complex relationship between politics and business" are some of the reasons why Malaysia is not longer attractive to foreign investors.

Such concerns raised must be addressed, he added, and a true assessment should also be made on the impact caused by Mahathir's declaration on Sept 29 last year that Malaysia was already an Islamic state.

'Don't out-Islamise each other'

"I urge Umno and PAS to cease their political competition on the question of Islam and Islamic state as such competition to out-Islamise or out-Islamic-state each other will have adverse effects on the nation's international competitiveness and national economy," he said.

The government's Budget 2003 presented on Sept 20 concentrates on efforts to stimulate domestic business and industrial activities in the wake of a drastic fall in foreign investments.

In the first six months of this year, Malaysia received only RM2.2 billion in approved foreign investments against RM18.8 billion for all of last year.

To boost domestic growth, the premier proposed that the corporate tax for small- and medium-size industries with paid-up capital of RM2.5 million and below be reduced from 28 percent to 20 percent on chargeable income up to RM100,000.