Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar today questioned the motive of a Norwegian member of Parliament to nominate President George W Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair for the Nobel Peace Prize.

He said the world would question the conferment of such an award o­n a leader like Bush, who had ignored international rules and the United Nations in his actions.

"However, it is their right to nominate anyone for the award, and we have no role in it," Bernama quoted him as saying.

The foreign minister was asked to comment o­n news reports about the proposal by Norwegian MP Jan Simonsen to nominate the United States President and British Prime Minister for the award for their success in Iraq.

Political interests

Syed Hamid said the proposal to give the award to Bush and Blair was merely for political interests

He said the question of whether Malaysia would recognise the award did not arise as it was the right of the organisers to choose whoever they deemed fit.

The 2002 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to former US President Jimmy Carter, who had criticised Bush's policy o­n Iraq.

Malaysia strongly opposed the recent US-led invasion of Iraq.