Australia unapologetic over actions to curb terror

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The Australian government said it will continue to take actions deemed necessary for the security of its people even if the actions prove unpopular with foreign leaders, notably Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said during a radio interview in Australia that he will not respond to criticisms levelled against the country by Mahathir yesterday on recent raids on two Muslim homes one in Sydney and the other in Perth.

"We've certainly heard some negative sentiment from time to time from Dr Mahathir. I'm not really going to respond to that except to say (that) the raids were conducted as a result of Jemaah Islamiah (JI) being listed as a terrorist organisation in the United Nations," said Downer. The transcript of Downer's interview was released by the Australian High Commission here today.

Speaking to reporters at the end of the Asean summit in Phnom Penh, Mahathir had described Australia as a particularly unsafe destination for Muslims because of the actions taken against several Indonesian Muslim households.

Australian authorities have said the raids were carried out based on suspicion that the Indonesians were connected to the JI, an organisation that has been blamed for the Oct 12 Bali bombing which killed almost 200 people, most of them Australians.

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