PAS Youth today called on Australian Prime Minister John Howard to apologise for his controversial suggestion to take pre-emptive anti-terror strikes against neighbouring countries.

The wing, which submitted a two-page memorandum on the matter to the Australian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur, described the remark as being "arrogant and irresponsible".

"PAS Youth objects to and criticises the rude, arrogant and irresponsible statement made by Howard.

"We are also asking Australia and Howard to retract the statement and apologise openly to all of Australia's Asian neighbours," said the wing's leader Mahfuz Omar in the memorandum.

The memorandum was received by the high commission's second secretary Lyn Minerds.

Howard courted strong rebukes from various leaders when he suggested that the United Nations Charter be altered to allow member countries to strike first if they believed an attack was imminent.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad who was among the vocal critics, threatened to pull out of an anti-terrorism pact signed with Australia last August.

Millions alarmed

Meanwhile, Mahfuz stressed that Howard's suggestion was akin to an attempt by Australia to interfere in the affairs of Asean countries.

"It is Australia's right to prevent terrorism but this does not mean that Australia can do anything it likes including the violation of others' rights in order to achieve its aim. The end does not justify the means," he said.

The PAS leader pointed out that the remark also unnecessarily alarmed millions of Asians who had nothing to do with any act of terrorism.

"As a Commonwealth country, Australia should play an active role to bring about world peace and not add to the world's burden in planning terror acts against Asian countries," he said.

Western terrorism

Mahfuz also condemned the United States-led war against terrorism as a "a greater form of terrorism to fight terrorism".

"This is a part of the network of Western terrorism headed by the United States...

"The manner in which the US has tried to curb terrorism by attacking Afghanistan has violated the rights of millions of others. It is as though Australia is now trying to become a part of this formal terrorism network," he stated.

When contacted later, Mahfuz said he was assured by the high commission official who received the memorandum that it would be forwarded to the Australian premier.

"However, we were disappointed that the memorandum was received by a junior official. We had expected a high-ranking official to accept the memorandum since we had made arrangements for the handover at least a week in advance," he said.

Meanwhile, Acting Australian High Commissioner to Kuala Lumpur Nicholas Brown declined to comment.

Although Australia's relations with its Southeast Asian neighbours visibly soured over the last two weeks, Howard was not criticised by other foreign governments.

The US was said to have backed Howard while other Asian nations such as Japan and China, did not object to his proposal that the UN Charter be altered to allow pre-emptive strikes.