A Malaysian university lecturer who was suspected of a role in the 2002 Bali bombings said in comments published today that he has repented and renounced violence.

Wan Min Wan Mat, 45, was released Monday after being held in detention since September 2002, shortly before the Oct 12 attack on Bali nightspots which killed 202 people, mostly western tourists.

Named by Indonesian police as a mastermind of the bombing, he testified in a written statement read out by prosecutors at the trial of one of the bombing suspects in 2003 that he had sent cash to the group accused of the blast.

Wan Min denied specific knowledge of the Bali attack, but admitted in his statement that he had sent US$30,500 in three instalments to a senior member of the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) extremist group to finance "operations in Indonesia as previously planned".

In an interview with the New Straits Times at the home of his wife's parents in Kota Baru after his release, he said: "It was wrong and I now realise that."

Support the government

Violence used by JI brought only chaos, he said, urging members to denounce the group, which wants to create an Islamic state across several countries in Southeast Asia.

"Choose the right path and support the efforts of the present government (in Malaysia)," he said.

The former Universiti Teknologi Malaysia lecturer told the paper he wanted to rest for at least two months and would then look for a job.

He said he hoped society would accept him without prejudice. "I have repented. I know who I am now," he said.

Wan Min, who was held under the Internal Security Act (ISA) which allows for indefinite detention without trial, will be restricted to Kota Baru, in Kelantan, and must report daily to police, officials said.

There has been no official explanation of why he was released and not prosecuted.

A government source told AFP: "There is evidence that he is no longer a threat to national security but police are monitoring his movements."

Charge in court

Terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna told AFP, however, that Wan Min was "well established as an important member and a leader of JI and it's very important that he be prosecuted for his activities".

Gunaratna, of Singapore's Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, said the problem was that governments in the region had not designated JI as a terrorist organisation and could not prosecute members for supporting terrorism.

Clive Williams, head of terrorism studies at Australian National University, said news of Wan Min's release would be received with concern particularly because 88 Australians were among those killed in the Bali blast.

But he pointed out that governments around the world, including the United States, faced difficulties in gathering enough evidence against terrorism suspects to bring them to court and were under pressure to release detainees held without trial.

More than 80 alleged Muslim militants remain in detention in Malaysia, many of them suspected members of JI, which has been blamed for a string attacks and is believed by authorities to have links with al-Qaeda. None have been brought to trial.