Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's call for all Muslim countries to use oil as a weapon against the West and developed countries is really irresponsible. It aggravates the already bad investment and business climate in Malaysia.

In Penang, many foreign investors have moved or plan to move to Vietnam, India, the Philippines or China. It is not because Malaysia does not have the manpower supply or infrastructure, but because most of the foreign businessmen and investors are worried about the on-off anti-Western and anti-American sentiments whipped up by Mahathir and the newspapers.

The anti-Western and anti-American sentiment affects the collective mood of local workers who are becoming more and more xenophobic. It jeopardises the cordial relations between local workers and staff on one hand, and foreign owners and supervisors on the other. Without good management-staff relations, productivity suffers.

Foreign tourists and residents are also worried about their safety and security because once the anti-Western and anti-American emotion has been whipped up, hostility towards Westerners and Americans in public places will increase.

The hostile attitude towards the West and US as repeatedly displayed by Mahathir and the newspapers will surely also affect tourism, trade and higher education. Malaysia will be identified more and more as an anti-Western and anti-American country like Iraq, North Korea, Myanmar, Libya and Cuba.

I hope the cabinet will make a binding decision to impose a gag order on Mahathir, and to publicly rescind his call to "use oil as a weapon" against the West and developed countries. Mahathir must also retract that highly irresponsible statement which may have repercussions beyond his control worldwide.