THE HAGUE, 26/09/03 - The government must invest more in the participation of the ethnic minorities in society. "Until now, investments have gone into driving groups apart," according to vice-chairman A. el Boujoufi of the Union of Moroccan Muslim organizations in the Netherlands (UMMON).

Boujoufi was attending hearings yesterday by the ad-hoc Integration Policy Investigation parliamentary committee. "The government is putting money in building a clubhouse for Moroccans and a clubhouse for Turks, while investments should actually go into things that bring us together," he said. Integration has not failed, but "not wholly succeeded. "

The committee also heard former Education State Secretary Tineke Netelenbos yesterday. She acknowledged that integration was not a theme of her ministry, during the period from 1994 to 1998. But Netelenbos declared that educational renewal is "A lengthy process" and that 2003 is too early to judge the effects of the policy that she followed at the end of last century.