13 May 2008 :

Malaysian Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar hit out at human rights organization Amnesty International for its ill-intended claim that Malaysia was among countries that carried out secret executions. He said the Amnesty report was aimed at tarnishing Malaysia's image and that those who wrote the report were ignorant. "I don't know how they could up with such a report. Did they meet and speak to anyone or just listen to rumours? People now are so interested in spoiling Malaysia's good name. We do not have secret killings, as anyone who commits a crime here has to go through the process of law. We cannot simply kill people, Malaysia is a country of law," he told reporters after visiting the Civil Defence Department here today. Amnesty International made the allegation in its 2007 annual report released in London on Tuesday. Indonesia, Cambodia and Vietnam were among the countries listed together with Malaysia as having carried out secret killings.