he opposition parties today questioned the government's denial that it was seeking closer ties with Israel as reported by an international magazine, the Far Eastern Economic Review.

The magazine quoted Indonesian President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid that Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad had sought his help to be a "middleman" on Malaysia's behalf.

Gus Dur, in his statement, explained that Mahathir had "requested him to act as the middleman to strengthen its relationship with Israel" during his visit to Malaysia recently.

PAS youth chief, Mahfuz Omar, said that there were a lot of evidence on Malaysia's secret relationship with Israel.

"Although there are no official ties, the relationship has become closer lately," Mahfuz told malaysiakini. He cited the meeting of the two countries' foreign ministers a few months ago.

"If Gus Dur's statement is untrue, Mahathir should take stern action against the Indonesian president."

However, PRM did not believed that Gus Dur's statement had much of an effect on the country.

"Indonesia has existing ties with Israel. Therefore, its president's statement cannot be taken to be against Malaysia and the Prime Minister," said Rustam A. Sani, vice-president of PRM.

Instead, he was perturbed by the way the issue was handled by Foreign Minister Hamid Albar.

Yesterday, Syed Hamid fiercely denied the report by the international magazine. He said that "Malaysia is firm on its stand against Israel."

Wisma Putra had summoned Indonesia's charge d'affaires in Kuala Lumpur to express its regret over the statement, and the Malaysian Embassy in Indonesia had also been urged to refute the statement on behalf of the country.

Meanwhile, executive council member of KeADILan, Saifuddun Nasution Ismail, was not particularly convinced by Syed Hamid's denial.

"Syed Hamid's statements have been inconsistent a number of times. Recently, he denied reports of his meeting with his counterpart in Israel, when in fact, the meeting actually did take place," he added.

Saifuddin instead, urged the Prime Minister himself to deny Gus Dur's statement.

The question of Malaysia-Israel ties was a major issue during the recent elections. The opposition parties had exploited the issue since it was revealed that the foreign ministers of the two countries had a secret meeting.

A few days before polling, Mahathir denied that he wrote an official letter to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.