(AFP) The government has urged the United Nations to investigate claims by a top UN official of a "white" policy in the UN administration in East Timor, a report said today.

Malaysian diplomat N Parameswaran said yesterday he had quit as chief of Staff of the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (Untaet) and would leave his post on Sunday.

In his resignation letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Parameswaran alleged that interference from Untaet deputy administrator Dennis McNamara hampered his efforts to bring home refugees.

He said Untaet "has become very much a 'white' mission, an Eastern mission with a Western face."

Probe the truth

Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said Parameswaran's claims were serious and the world body must probe the truth to overcome its "weaknesses and attitude" in running East Timor.

"He has always been working in international affairs and would not have written such allegations in his letter unless there is some truth," Syed Hamid was quoted as saying by The Star .

"Parameswaran would have experienced such a situation during his stint with the UN or he would not have written about it at all."

The resignation of Parameswaran, a Malaysian career diplomat for 32 years, came just over four months before the former Indonesian province attains full independence on May 20.

The UN took over the running of the ruined territory in October 1999 to prepare it for independence.