The head of the European Commission Delegation to Malaysia Thierry Rommel was today summoned to the Foreign Ministry after he criticised the country's decades-old affirmative action programme that favours majority ethnic Malays.

"I have a meeting (Monday afternoon) at the Malaysian foreign ministry," Rommel told AFP . He declined to elaborate.

A foreign ministry official confirmed that Rommel would meet Othman Hashim, deputy secretary-general of the foreign ministry.

Malaysian leaders reacted angrily after Rommel last week criticised Malaysia's racial quota policy favouring Malays, saying it was detrimental to the country and could hinder a free-trade agreement.

Rommel however said he had no intention of meddling in the country's affairs by criticising its NEP policies.

He told AFP on Sunday that he was only thinking of the economic impact of Malaysia's affirmative action policies.

"It is not my intention to meddle in internal affairs. The rationale to which I brought up the bumiputera policy was in relation to FTA negotiations. The thinking was economic and nothing else," he said.

He said Malaysia's affirmative action policies were "about discrimination and protectionism" which would make trade negotiations with the EU "not so easy."

"What is the big shock in saying that international trade negotiations often have implications into domestic adjustment?" he added.

Lack of understanding

Earlier Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said Rommel would be summoned to the ministry to explain his comments before a decision was made on issuing a formal protest note, state Bernama news agency reported Sunday.

"We are disappointed that a diplomat has made such a statement, which reflects his lack of understanding of the role of an ambassador or diplomat to not interfere in the internal affairs and policies of a country," he said, according to Bernama .

Syed Hamid, who is in Italy on an official visit, said it was the first time a diplomat had made comments on such a sensitive issue.

Malaysia's ambassador to Brussels would also meet with EU representatives to convey Malaysia's reaction to the comments, he said.

Rommel's remarks had earlier sparked a warning from Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, who said it "can be construed as trying to interfere in the internal administration of the country," the Star daily reported.

Malaysia since the 1970s has used affirmative action policies to help close a wealth gap between Malays and the minority Chinese community.

The country's 27 million population is 60 percent ethnic Muslim-Malays, 26 percent Chinese and eight percent Indian.