Bernama.com
General June 27, 2006 20:03 PM
 
Harakah Has Tarnished Malaysia's Reputation, Says Shabery


KUALA LUMPUR, June 27 (Bernama) -- Harakah has tarnished Malaysia's image with its claims that the Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmud Al-Zahar was an impolite guest and deserved the shabby treatment meted out by the government, said Foreign Ministry's Parliamentary Secretary Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek.

He said Harakah had condemned the Hamas leader, claiming he had insulted the Malaysian government while here last month to attend the NAM Ministers Coordinating Bureau meeting.

The PAS-controlled paper claimed that Al-Zahar was impolite to his host.

It also claimed that the government had given poor diplomatic treatment to Al-Zahar.

"I regret that (Harakah) is trying to discredit the government. Apparently, PAS has also discredited (the Hamas leader) by saying he was impolite.

"I do not think he (Al-Zahar) would stoop so low to condemn his host. I think PAS was trying to tarnish the good name of Hamas," he said in Parliament Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Shabery said Malaysia supported the Hamas-led Palestine government and wanted the Israel-Palestine conflict to end soon.

He said this was stressed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi during his meeting with Hamas special envoy Dr Azzam Tamimi in Putrajaya on Feb 20.

Malaysia, which chairs the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), also gave the Palestinian government RM58 million in May after America and the European Union imposed economic sanction on the war-torn territory.

-- BERNAMA
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