An opposition leader today called for the air to be cleared on allegations that Malaysia served as a launching pad for terrorism, making it now a key front in the war on terrorism.

DAP calls for an all-party panel to evaluate police evidence and issue a report on the US Federal Bureau of Investigations finding that Malaysia was one of the primary operational launch pads for the Sept 11 attacks, party national chairperson Lim Kit Siang said in a statement today.

For the past six months until early January, ministers have repeatedly denied that Malaysia had any links with al-Qaeda [through the Malaysian Mujahidin Group or KMM]... and Defence Minister Najib Abdul Razak denied that Malaysia was a transit point for terrorists.

The whole pretense collapsed when premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad admitted that al-Qaeda had recruited 50 Malaysians into its operations in an interview with Japanese magazine Chuokoron on Jan 10, Lim said.

A Newsweek report this week stated that Malaysia was serving as a launchpad for terrorism in the wake of Yazid Sufaats arrest, a former Malaysian army captain who allegedly signed up suspected terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui to work in Yazids Malaysian-based company Infocus Tech.

Zacarias was identified by US law enforcement officials as being linked to Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network, blamed for the Sept 11 attacks on the United States.

Local media blackout

It was also reported in the media yesterday that the government is mulling a lawsuit against Newsweek for carrying the report.

A New York Times article dated Jan 30 also revealed that Malaysian and US officials were negotiating an extradition order for Yazid, a KMM member, to be transferred to US soil.

He is currently being held under the Internal Security Act which allows indefinite detention without trial, together with 22 other KMM members.

Inspector-General of Police Rahim Noor also revealed that there were still 200 Malaysians with alleged links to al-Qaeda.

Meanwhile, Lim added the fact that many international reports about terrorism hubs in the region were not carried in the local media raise the question as to their veracity and why there is an official policy to black them out.

Malaysians who only read the local media must wonder as to the identity of this terrorist network in Southeast Asia, he said, referring to Najibs statement in an AFP report on Tuesday that a terrorist network in the region had been partly paralysed by recent arrests.