It is sometimes really a wonder when leaders of countries show such ignorance over the ways of their immediate neighbours.

President Gloria Arroyo has expressed ''personal outrage and that of the Filipino people'' over the alleged rape of a 13-year-old Filipina while she was in detention awaiting deportation in Sabah.

In a strongly-worded letter to Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, she demanded swift prosecution of the alleged attacker, identified by reports in the Philippines as a policeman assigned to a detention centre in Kota Kinabalu.

If only she knew that in Malaysia that it is customary that when investigations are pursued over such accusations, these could result in the accuser being then indicted for making 'false' statements.

Such is the case of Tenaganita director Irene Fernandez whose cases, taken up on detainees' behalf, have been longest running and now delayed for many months.

In any case the investigation papers would be classified secret — so that any revelation of it would be criminalised —and the final statements would exonerate the accused as do most investigations of the Anti-Corruption Agency.