It is interesting to watch the Malaysian government repudiate the UN Security Council's claim that Barisan Nasional is linked to al-Qaeda through the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the southern Philippines.

The UN Security Council's report is based almost entirely on Rohan Gunaratna's just published book, Inside Al-Qaeda: Global Network of Terror.

So much space has been given to condemnations one after another in the Malaysian media, by every component party of the BN, and even the DAP — like loyal palace troopers.

Defence Minister Najib Razak summed up the reactions well, saying the claims were "completely illogical".

Maybe.

What's interesting also is the subsequent moves: the Home Ministry banning the book from sale in Malaysia last Friday as people rushed to buy Gunaratna's book.

(Editor: The ministry denies any such ban, but book stores have removed the publication from their shelves.)

I have read his book, twice, and I have serious questions about the veracity of Gunaratna's claims and the intellectual rigour of his work. But that's another matter.

What's completely illogical is the Malaysian government moving so quickly to ban the book, and so inevitably fanning suspicions if indeed it has something to hide.

That action alone constitutes a phenomenal public relations blunder by a hot-headed government too hell-bent on meting out more fluster and bluster than coolly working out a calculated and intelligent counter response to a book that deserves to be seriously criticised.

It's the same hot-headedness that we became familiar with at the onset of the Asian economic crisis four-plus years ago.

The inanity surrounding the UN Security Council's report also deserves unreserved criticism, if not condemnation. For the Security Council to write a report based almost wholly on a single piece of work only shows the organisation's unprofessionalism, incompetence, and lack of intelligence and foresight.

But all three actors in this sorry mess and saga deserve blame and criticism. All three are foolishly pursuing their own agendas when a great, murderous menace lurking in our midst deserves an unconditional united front to root it out.

And that is another matter entirely.