International news magazine Newsweek will consults its lawyers first before responding to the Malaysian governments threat to sue the former over an article alleging that Malaysia was a launchpad for the Sept 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

Wendy Poon, an official at Newsweek s Hong Kong office, said the journal will not be making any comments on its article until it has sought legal advice.

De facto law minister Rais Yatim was quoted by national news agency Bernama yesterday as saying the government might take US-based magazine to court over its Feb 4 report.

He said he had requested a report from the Attorney-Generals Chambers on the article as well as on several other negative articles published by Newsweek in the past.

Rais added action could be also taken against the magazine under the Printing Presses and Publications Act.

I am confident that we can, using international, regional or national laws, see to it that stern action is taken (against the magazine) through the courts, he reportedly said.

Perfect place to lie low

In the controversial report, Newsweek cites a secret Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) report as saying that Malaysia was a primary operational launchpad for the Sept 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

The report said that Malaysian authorities had identified Yazid Sufaat, a former Malaysian army captain, as a al-Qaeda terrorist network supporter after he allegedly met with two hijackers in Kuala Lumpur in January 2000.

The two hijackers who Yazid met were said to have piloted American Airlines Flight 77 which crashed into the Pentagon on Sept 11.

Yazids wife said today that the authorities had detained him for two years without trial under the Internal Security Act. He was arrested by police on Dec 9 on his return from Bangkok, Thailand.

The Newsweek report also quoted an intelligence source as saying that Kuala Lumpur was the perfect place for Arabs to lie low, with reference to the Malaysian no-visa requirement for Arabs to enter the country.