In Author's gain from our sorrow not right , the writer counters my point in my earlier letter that perhaps the Malaysian government has something to hide by moving quickly to ban Dr Rohan Gunaratna's book, Inside Al-Qaeda: Global Network of Terror , from sale in Malaysia.

The writer suggests, rather, that the move could be aimed at preventing Gunaratna "from reaping financial rewards from making unfounded statements."

Despite the Home Ministry denying it has banned the book (what else is the ministry expected to do but deny the claim?), MPH Bookstore executives reportedly removed the books from their shelves immediately upon receiving 'advice' from the ministry. This was reported by the newswires and on malaysiakini .

Whatever the merits of Gunaratna's claims, it should be noted that, unlike some writers of fiction, most academics rarely make much money when publishing their research as books.

Publishers' royalty payments are so paltry that we often wonder why we bother at all.

It's because, in our business — as academics — institutional requirements press us to do so to preserve our positions as university lecturers and researchers. 'Published or be damned': that's the noose that's constantly placed around our necks by governments and university bureaucrats.

Although Gunaratna's book has been on the bestseller list in the US for some time now, it's doubtful he would be making a mint from sales for the very reason I've given. And that's despite the US being a mature market for books.

Malaysia, by contrast, is hardly a huge or indeed a mature market for big-volume book sales. Although larger bookshops have sprung up in the country, and books sales are increasing, book sales aren't growing as fast as in mature markets elsewhere, including Singapore.

So it's hard to fathom how the banning of Gunaratna's book by the government, if not perhaps for having something to hide, as I'd suggested, could possibly hurt the author's pockets.

Gunaratna probably makes much more money as a security consultant to the US, UK and Australian governments and to multinational corporations than from this book alone (although he has written six others — most are contentious and almost all of dubious scholarship).

His fame is rising, as is his latest book, thanks in no small part to the Sept 11 attacks.

Otherwise, it's doubtful his book would have been so well-received by the largely paranoid Americans, who can't see that their own foreign policy has been a major supporter of terrorists and continues to be a major contributor to modern-day global terrorism.

Still, the letter writer seems to have missed the bigger point that I was trying to make: that the way the Malaysian government has been handling Gunaratna's claims only highlights its incompetence in good public relations and crisis management.

Take Wisma Putra, Malaysia's Foreign Affairs Ministry — it should have been at the forefront of the story when it broke but instead it has seriously botched the whole matter.

Simply study the series of hot-headed bleating, and bizarre and highly emotive spiels by the government, Barisan Nasional, even the opposition DAP, and the editorial writers in Malaysia's mainstream media, in repudiating Gunaratna's and the UN Security Council's claims.

Even Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, after making the predictable noises — more for popular domestic political consumption — later admitted

that Gunaratna was not to be blamed.

The Malaysian government can ill-afford to make the series of blunders in the aftermath of Sept 11 and the Bali attacks. It has no skills in making cool-headed and calculated responses to such allegations.

But then again, perhaps this is also where statecraft kicks in.

The point is this: if you're going to counter-attack Gunaratna, hit him where it'll hurt the most — by attacking the content of his work, which in my view is of questionable intellectual merit.

But I doubt anyone in the Malaysian government or any of the people who've been running around lately Gunaratna-bashing like headless chooks, have read his book. And that's where you'd also lose credibility for your complaints.

Let's be clear about one thing, and several of my university colleagues and I have noticed this about Gunaratna in the many talks and interviews he has given around the world: he has a tendency to exaggerate and is no different in his latest book.