Malaysia-based web-hosting company Acme Commerce Sdn Bhd today confirmed it had unwittingly hosted the Islamic militant website which posted the grisly video showing the beheading of American Nick Berg on Wednesday.

"I felt shocked and saddened by the footage. We terminated their servers immediately after we come to know of the content," the company's business manager, Alfred Lim, told a press conference at the DAP headquarters in Petaling Jaya this afternoon.

The company hosted the muntada al-ansar website - which posted the gruesome footage - for more than a year but has disabled it since yesterday afternoon, said Lim.

The video posted had prompted outrage around the world and condemnation for most world leaders. The two-minute footage showed Berg, a freelance communications worker from Pennsylvania, speaking briefly before his head is sawed off with a large knife by one of his masked captors while the others chant Islamic verses.

Lim said websites hosted by the Kuala Lumpur-based Acme Commerce were handled by its business unit known as webserver.com.my, adding the company hosted over 5,000 websites from more than 50 countries.

He refused to elaborate further on the forensic details of the offending website but said he would surrender all relevant document to the Malaysian police should the latter initiate an investigation.

Lim said he yesterday lodged a police report at the Cheras police station in Kuala Lumpur to protect his 15-year-old company against allegations that it was connected with al-Qaeda terror network and other Islamic terrorist groups.

He vowed to continue disabling any website hosted by his company found to be related to terrorism and that Acme Commerce was currently undertaking a check of websites under its purview.

Listed on database

Asked how many websites have been taken offline so far, the 39-year-old manager said he could not provide an exact figure but confirmed that the six terrorist-linked websites mentioned in malaysiakini's report yesterday have since been unplugged.

"It is actually very difficult for us to determine which website should be disabled unless we receive information or complaints from the public," Lim said.

"As long as they are doing legal businesses, we will not interfere. However, if we find that they have abused the hosting service provided, we will not hesitate to suspend or terminate their servers," he stressed.

To another question that Acme Commerce was listed as a web-hosting company for terrorist websites by an international unit known as the Anti-terrorism Coalition, Lim said he was unaware of the listing.

The Anti-terrorism Coalition claims to operate a database of terrorist websites and e-groups. Out of the 352 websites that the coalition identified as linked to Islamic terror organisations, 10 are said to be hosted by Acme Commerce.

Lim said the entire episode involving the video footage and subsequent fall-out had affected his business. He hoped the police report lodged by him yesterday could clear the air and the firm could resume normal business operations.

"I want to make it clear that the company and myself personally are in no way linked to any terrorist groups," he told reporters.

Lim said he lodged the police report as he "would not want to be held responsible for any websites and rumours which may involve my business."

Formula needed

DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang who was present, said he is pleased with the Acme Commerce clarification and hoped it would "let the world knows that no one in Malaysia consciously hosted a series of al-Qaeda linked websites".

The opposition leader, however, posed a question pertaining the role of the Internet in the fast-paced era of global information dissemination.

"A formula has to be found to ensure that the Multimedia Super Corridor's Bill of Guarantee for non-Internet censorship can continue to be honoured while at the same time safeguarding national and international security," he said.

In a reply to malaysiakini today, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission in stated that while the Internet is not censored and web-hosting activity not regulated, action could still be taken against individuals who breached Malaysian cyberlaws.