Foreign Affairs Minister Syed Hamid Albar was taken to task for Malaysia's decision to abstain from voting for a new anti-torture treaty.

DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang said the minister should explain why Malaysia "sided with the Bush administration" by not voting for the Optional Protocol to the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel and Unusual Treatment.

The optional protocol will allow international and national experts to conduct regular visits to places of detention within countries to assess the treatment of detainees and conditions of detention, and to recommend improvements.

"Malaysia's failure to vote on this important and innovative human rights measure is a blot on the human rights record of the country on the international stage," Lim said in a statement yesterday.

According to him, Malaysia should have given serious consideration by voting to support the passage of the treaty which had been in the making for 10 years. It was adopted on Dec 18 after 127 countries voted in favour, while four voted against and 42 abstained.

The leading opponent of the protocol was the US. Three other countries Nigeria, Palau and the Marshall Islands also voted against it.