Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's son today said he expected the opposition to use the nuclear scandal he was implicated in as an issue for the upcoming general election.

On the same note, Kamaluddin Abdullah said he was relieved that the police had cleared him of any wrongdoing.

"Yes, I am relieved. That is all behind us now. We can concentrate on other things and move forward," he was quoted as saying in a Reuters report.

Kamaluddin was speaking to reporters after accompanying his father to the nomination centre in Penang.

On the opposition turning it into a campaign issue, he said: "That is part and parcel of politics."

The 36-year-old Cambridge University graduate also confirmed that he would remain in business, saying, "I have got to earn a living".

Nuclear parts

Kamaluddin controls the public-listed Scomi Group Bhd. Its subsidiary Scope had admitted making parts seized on a ship bound for Libya, where they were allegedly to be used for enriching uranium for its nuclear weapons programme.

However, the company claimed that it had been misled about the purpose and destination of the parts.

The police here also cleared Scomi of any wrongdoing but the opposition had cried foul, raising allegations of a possible cover-up.

US President George W Bush last month linked the company with the nuclear black market run by Pakistan's disgraced scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, who has admitted selling nuclear secrets.

Later, the US said the company had stopped producing the parts and denied that it had accused the company of being directly involved in the scandal.

Protecting PM

This prompted, PAS to accuse the US of trying to protect the Malaysian premier in order to prevent Islamists from taking over the country.

"I see a (cover-up) and there is sympathy from the US. The US foreign policy is to protect its interest and they will never allow the establishment of an Islamic government anywhere," said PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang.

"We see how the US wants to hand over power in Iraq but on condition that it is not to the Muslims. It's the same in Malaysia. The US is practicing double-standards in its global war against terror and in the issue of nuclear proliferation," added the leader of the Muslim-based party.

Meanwhile in the coming election, the prime minister will be defending his Kepala Batas parliamentary seat against PAS' Abdul Khalid Rashid.