KUALA LUMPUR, 9 November 2003 — Malaysia criticized the United States yesterday for issuing a safety warning to Americans in the country, saying security nationwide is adequate and ruling out fears that it will hurt foreign tourist arrivals.

The US said on Friday it was concerned about the safety of its citizens in Malaysia, warning they could fall prey to Southeast Asian terror groups.

It urged extra caution to American citizens in the troubled eastern Malaysia state of Sabah on Borneo Island.

Shafie Apdal, deputy defense minister told AFP that the new travel advisory was unwarranted since security was under control, even in Sabah. “We have improved security. I am going fishing far into the sea off Sabah waters. There is nothing to fear,” he said.

Shafie’s constituency is Semporna in Sabah, which sits across the Sipadan island where in 2000 the radical Philippines-based Muslim Abu Sayyaf group launched a daring raid and kidnapped a group of foreign tourists.

Shafie said the US terror warnings would not help improve security in the region.

“They should stop talking. Instead, the US must develop southern Philippines. Development projects will eradicate poverty and this will help deter cross-border attacks,” he said.

The porous nature and close proximity of the borders between Malaysia and the Philippines enables illegal immigrants and rebels to enter Malaysia without being detected by security officials.

The travel advisory was the first such public announcement since the retirement last week of former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.

In a public announcement, the State Department reiterated its “ongoing concern about the safety of American citizens and interests, especially along the east coast of the Malaysian state of Sabah.”

It said its concern was motivated by “the presence of terrorist organizations in Southeast Asia.”

The warning came a month after six Indonesian and Filipino workers were kidnapped from a coastal resort in eastern Sabah.

The warning also noted the threat to Americans in the region from the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) group, which was blamed for the nightclub bombings last year in Bali, Indonesia, and other attacks on western targets.

The warning superceded a previous advisory issued on May 14 in which the State Department said Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network could have been planning new attacks on US citizens and interests in Malaysia.

Shafie said the islands off Sabah, famous for their scuba diving sites, continue to attract tourists from the US, Britain, Germany and Japan.

“I do not think the advisory will drive away foreign tourists. Foreigners are still flocking to beaches here, especially in Sabah,” he said.

Admitting incidents of piracy, Shafie said they were akin to robberies in the United States.

“Even the Pentagon is not safe,” he said in an apparent reference to the Sept. 11 attacks when hijackers crashed a civilian aircraft into the US defense headquarters.

In February, the government said the number of tourists visiting Malaysia grew by four percent in 2002, with visitors pumping more than $11 billion into the economy. The 2002 income from tourism is estimated to represent some 19.5 percent of Gross Domestic Product, up from 11.7 percent in 2001.

Mahathir had responded to earlier US warnings by saying: “I’d like to remind them that the attack on the World Trade Centre was on American soil, not here. So America is much more dangerous than Malaysia.