Dr M: Silly to target countries on US watch-list for visas
The government is unlikely to tighten travel restrictions for visitors from several Muslim countries labelled 'terrorist-risk', in order to regulate their entry into Malaysia.
Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has brushed off any such idea as "silly", saying it would not work.
Malaysia has been included in a list of 15 countries apparently because of its relaxed immigration policy with respect to several Muslim-majority countries, which US authorities suspect of being home to al-Qaeda operatives.
From this month, United States immigration officials have been authorised to subject Malaysians and travellers who have visited Malaysia to 'special registration measures' including fingerprinting and photographing.
The government is unlikely to tighten travel restrictions for visitors from several Muslim countries labelled 'terrorist-risk', in order to regulate their entry into Malaysia.
Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has brushed off any such idea as "silly", saying it would not work.
Malaysia has been included in a list of 15 countries apparently because of its relaxed immigration policy with respect to several Muslim-majority countries, which US authorities suspect of being home to al-Qaeda operatives.
From this month, United States immigration officials have been authorised to subject Malaysians and travellers who have visited Malaysia to 'special registration measures' including fingerprinting and photographing.
Last month, the Canadian government also lifted a visa exemption for Malaysian visitors to the country, citing "security concerns" over Malaysian passports and the passport-issuing system.
Drop in foreign investment
"We will not impose a visa restriction on these (15) countries. We think it is silly anyway. It is not effective," said Mahathir of the viability of tightening entry requirements.
"It is a nuisance and we don't want to be a nuisance to people who want to come to Malaysia. They are welcome here."
Mahathir also attributed the current slide in foreign direct investment (FDI) to a more mundane reason than the 'terrorist-risk' label created by certain quarters for the country.
He said the global economic downturn was more likely the cause of the FDI slump, which has been recorded for the first two quarters of the year.
Statistics show that FDI for the first two quarters of this year stood at only RM2.2 billion, compared to a RM18.8 billion for the whole of last year.
"I don't think there is much money going around. There is not much capital being invested in most countries so it is not surprising that investment from foreign sources is low," the premier said.
"That is why we stressed on domestic investment and not foreign investment in the budget."
Dr Mahathir tabled Bajet 2003 in the Dewan Rakyat on Sept 20, with a package of incentives for the business sector to prime-pump the domestic economy.
