Malaysia will not support any exile proposal for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in an effort to avert war, Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said today.

"This effort to ask Saddam to go into exile is an individual country's effort or that of the countries in the region. As far as we are concerned we support action that is taken o­nly through the United Nations," a Bernama report quoted him as saying.

He said the leadership of a country and the system of government should be determined by the people of the country concerned.

Reiterating that the Iraqi crisis should be resolved peacefully within the United Nations (UN) framework, Syed Hamid said that Malaysia holds the view that whatever system of government practised in a country or the system of government to be installed should be determined by the people of the country concerned.

He said everyone should give serious thought to the future consequences of replacing leaders just because a particular leader was not acceptable to certain countries.

"Today it is Iraq. The next time there may be other leaders that are not acceptable. Should this exile be imposed from outside? Should it not be the right of the people of the particular country to decide who their leader should be? So I think this is very important."

President since 1979

"If they can convince Saddam Hussein well and good. What happens if Saddam does not agree. Saddam has made a statement that he is not going to give up," said Syed Hamid.

Saddam, 66, who is the secretary-general of the ruling Baath party and chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council of Iraq, has been the president of the Arab country of some 24 million people since 1979. In a referendum held in October last year o­n whether he should continue as president, the Iraqi people overwhelmingly voted in favour of Saddam.

Syed Hamid said that in any case, war should not be an option and the multilateral approach was the best way.

"It is better that we talk about disarming Iraq through peaceful means," he added.