Australia was too focussed on its alliance with the United States and had upset its Asian neighbours with talk of pre-emptive strikes against terrorists in the region, Malaysia's prime minister said yesterday.

In an interview with ABC television ahead of his visit to Australia next week, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Canberra "seems to be looking somewhere else more than looking towards us".

In comments that echoed the sentiments of his predecessor Dr Mahathir Mohamad, a trenchant critic of Australia, Abdullah said Canberra needed to examine how it engaged with Asia.

"I think we are inclined to believe that Australia is not really centring on Asia or East Asia but has more concern with reflecting the views as expressed by (the) United States," he said in the interview, to be screened Sunday.

Abdullah also criticised Prime Minister John Howard for raising the prospect of Australia taking unilateral action against terror bases in the region without consulting all relevant governments.

Changing things

"Prime Minister Howard is perhaps changing some things, but sometimes he does make some statement which is a little bit upsetting," he said. "This kind of pre-emptive action - to me he shouldn't say those things."

Abdullah's visit, the first by a Malaysian prime minister for more than 20 years, has been seen as a new era in relations between the two countries after the tensions of the Mahathir years.

But Abdullah said many differences remained, including Australia's strong support for the US-led Iraq war.

"Certainly we are not standing on the same platform," he said. "Not on the same ground. We don't agree on the attack on Iraq."

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer refused to discuss Abdullah's comments, telling reporters the Malaysian leader was free to raise whatever issues he liked during next week's visit.

The remarks come just a day after Howard insisted Australia's alliance with the United States was "a plus and not a minus in forging stronger links in Asia".

Regional anger

He said Australia's access to US intelligence was vital in destroying terrorist networks in Southeast Asia and his government was committed to deepening ties in the region.

"Australia will be engaged most intensively on challenges in our own region - cooperating with others to rip up terrorist networks in Asia, seizing opportunities for economic integration, and bringing a new intensity to state building in our neighbourhood," Howard said.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd said Abdullah's remarks reflected regional anger at Howard's remarks about pre-emptive strikes ahead of last October's general election.

"He wanted to sustain a hairy-chested image to the Australian domestic body politic while at the same time not giving a damn about how this would play within the region -- well the chickens have come home to roost," Rudd told ABC radio.