No foreign troops will be stationed in the country when it establishes a regional anti-terrorism centre in conjunction with the United States, Defence Minister Najib Tun Razak said today.

The government announced that it had agreed to host the centre after US President George W Bush raised the issue with Southeast Asian leaders on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) meeting in Mexico on Saturday.

Najib said Malaysia's decision reflected its sincerity in cooperating in the international war on terrorism, the official Bernama news agency reported.

"This does not mean Malaysia accepts the entry of foreign troops into the country as we do not believe their presence will help in the war against terrorists.

"The centre is more (focused) on training to increase capacity-building in our efforts to fight terrorism," he said.

The proposal to establish the anti-terror unit, which is expected to be set up next year, had nothing to do with allegations that Malaysia was a centre for terrorists, he added.

"It actually reflects the confidence and political stability in Malaysia and the comfortability of the international community to set up their centre to cooperate with the Malaysian government."

Civilian experts

Giving a first indication of what the centre might entail, Najib said the majority of personnel involved would be civilian experts.

"There will be no uniformed personnel, only experts to train our country and other countries in this region on how to act besides determining more effective action against terrorism."

He dismissed suggestions that the centre could itself become a target for terrorists, saying the foreign presence would be insignificant.

Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar was quoted as saying on the sidelines of the Mexico summit that details had not been worked out but "our target for the regional centre is next year."

Anti-terror pact

The centre would develop projects to enhance the capability of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to deal with terrorist movements and would be jointly manned by Malaysians and Americans, officials said.

Veteran Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad signed an anti-terror pact with the US when he visited the White House in May, and Asean signed a similar agreement with Washington in August.

Asean groups Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. AFP