Malaysia keen to extend its interest in India beyond Bollywood

New Delhi, Feb 22 (UNI) Underscoring its old and deep relations with India, Malaysia has called for strengthening news network in the South East Asian countries for dissemination of unbiased information in the region.

''For long we have suffered because of misinformation disseminated by foreign news agencies that created suspicion in our relations, it should not happen any more,'' Malaysian Minister for Information Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin told UNI.

''Malaysia's relations with India are very old. Even our religion Islam was brought to us by Indians,'' he said.

Malaysia has a large number of Indians working there, and sometimes because of the lack of understanding and awareness about each other's culture, some problems may arise, but they can be sorted out by the two countries themselves, he said.

Giving an example of an incident in which an IT expert was rounded up by immigration authorities of his country, Mr Maidin said western agencies had reported that his passport was defaced by Malaysian authorities, whereas the fact was that no such thing had taken place and due procedure was followed in dealing with the case.

The incident, which happened long ago, had created some bitterness in the relations between the two countries due to this misreporting. ''It serves as a reminder to us that countries of the region should have greater avenues for exchange and dissemination of information.

He said his country was watching the progress and socio-economic developments in India with great interest and attaches great importance to the relation between the two countries.

India with 300 million strong middle class presents Malaysia with a large market for its products and investments.

''As the two countries continue to develop their relations in trade and other economic fields, we cannot ignore the importance of disseminating information about the vast opportunities to our people, especially those in the private sector,'' he said.

In this context, it was very important to guard against the kind of information that can create distrust between the two countries, he stressed.

The Minister had come here to inaugurate Malaysian national news agency Bernama's bureau here recently.

Underlining the importance of Bernama opening its office in New Delhi, he said that now people in his country would be able to benefit more from the extensive and accurate coverage of happenings in India.

''These are exciting times for us. Today the world is very much interested in the news from the region so it was imperative that journalists from within and outside the region should write accurate stories about happenings in the region,'' said Dr Maidin.

''As Information Minister, I would be taking keen interest in the news dispatches of Bernama from Delhi, and am sure that others would be interested too,'' said Mr Maidin.

He said Malaysians were great lovers of Bollywood movies and greatly enjoyed film songs, but he wanted that their knowledge about India should extend to other areas too.

UNI