| PARLIAMENT:
NO NEED FOR DR MAHATHIR TO FLY TO PHILIPPINES ON JOLO ISSUE KUALA LUMPUR, July 10 (Bernama) --
The visits by Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar and Minister in the Prime
Minister's Department Datuk Pandikar Amin Mulia to the Philippines recently were
sufficient to state the government's stand that the case on the detention of hostages in
Jolo should be resolved immediately.
Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Leo Michael Toyad said that during the meetings with the two
ministers, the Philippine government had promised and given its assurance that the problem
would be resolved as soon as possible.
"The ministry feels that the stand conveyed by the two ministers is sufficient and it
is not necessary for the Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad) to go to the
Philippines to discuss the matter," he said when replying to the supplementary
question by Dr Tan Seng Giaw (DAP-Kepong) at the Dewan Rakyat Monday.
Tan had earlier suggested that Dr Mahathir holds a meeting with Philippine President
Joseph Estrada to express Malaysia's disappointment over the handling of the hostage issue
in Jolo which had yet to be resolved after almost three months.
According to Toyad, although Malaysia was disappointed because the negotiations were going
too slowly without much progress, it had to respect the principles and formalities in
bilateral relations between the two countries.
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