Officials for both the Far Eastern Economic Review and Newsweek today said they have yet to receive any communication from the Malaysian government over several reports in the journals deemed negative and false.

A spokesperson for the Hong Kong-based Review said the international news magazine was not aware that its Jan 24 edition had been held back in Malaysia due to a controversial article entitled Secret Anwar Deal?.

We are not aware that any party or distributor refused delivery of the Jan 24 issue in Malaysia. The magazine went out through its normal distribution channels, insisted the Review spokesperson.

However, a check with several major magazine retailers and bookshops in Kuala Lumpur revealed that they had not received the Jan 24 issue of the Review.

The Secret Anwar Deal? article claimed a conciliatory deal had been struck between Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his former deputy Anwar Ibrahim who is currently serving jail terms for corruption and sodomy.

The article said the two met during a secret hour-long car ride along the Karak Highway outside Kuala Lumpur.

If further said that although Mahathir and Anwar reached an agreement during the car ride, it fell through following the Sept 11 terror attacks in the United States.

Mahathir has subsequently denied meeting Anwar in any circumstances.

Limit circulation

A report of the delay in releasing the Jan 24 issue of the Review in Malaysia first appeared in Singapores Straits Times yesterday.

The broadsheet said the issue had not been cleared by the (Malaysian) home affairs ministry which normally gives foreign magazines distribution approval within a few days.

Straits Times also claimed the Malaysian government may limit circulation of the Review to 500 from its present 14,252 copies a month in Malaysia.

Newsweek magazine, which published a controversial report claiming Malaysia was a primary launchpad for the Sept 11 attacks, said today it had not received any direct communication from the Malaysian government over possible lawsuit charges by the latter

We have not been served with any lawsuit or received any other direct communication from the Malaysian government. Newsweek does not comment on threatened litigation, said Ken Weine, the journals Communications Director.

Yesterday, another official at the magazine said the magazine would consult its lawyers first before responding to the lawsuit threat.

Intelligence source

Last Thursday, de facto law minister Dr Rais Yatim was quoted by national news agency Bernama as saying the government may take Newsweek to court over its Feb 4 report.

In the article, Newsweek cites a secret Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) report as saying that Malaysia was a primary operational launchpad for the Sept 11 terror attacks in New York and Washington.

It further quoted an intelligence source as saying that Kuala Lumpur was the perfect place for Arabs to lie low, with reference to the Malaysian no-visa requirement for Arabs to enter the country.