Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad pledged to tighten security measures and expand cooperation with neighbouring countries after the kidnapping of six foreign workers at a resort in Sabah.

Mahathir said he regretted the kidnapping incident because he feared it could affect Southeast Asia's image as a safe region.

"It indicates that we need to tighten our security, that there should be closer cooperation between neighbouring countries in order to ensure that security is much more effective than today," he told a news conference at the end of his farewell Asean summit.

He said he was worried that foreigners would "think that if anything happens in one particular spot, the whole of Southeast Asia is an unsafe place."

Suspect held

Three Indonesian and three Filipino workers were kidnapped Sunday from the tiny riverside Borneo Paradise Resort in Sabah late Sunday by 10 armed raiders who bundled them onto a speedboat.

Police chief Norian Mai earlier Wednesday said a guard at the resort had been detained and foreign involvement was suspected in the abduction. He added he believed the kidnappers were still in Malaysian waters.

Although some of the kidnappers were wearing military fatigues and carried assault rifles, Malaysia has ruled out the Philippine Muslim rebel group Abu Sayyaf, which has carried out similar raids in Sabah in the past.

Philippine President Gloria Arroyo on Wednesday pledged her government's help in tracking the gunmen.

The US still maintains a travel advisory warning its citizens to avoid visiting Sabah after Abu Sayyaf kidnapped 21 people, mostly Western tourists, from the Sipadan resort in April 2000. They were held for nearly a year before being released, reportedly in exchange for millions of dollars in ransom.

Five months after the first raid, Abu Sayyaf seized three Malaysian hostages from the nearby resort island of Pandanan. - AFP