The DAP has proposed an all-party national conference on terrorism to reach a national consensus to condemn terrorism as the best way to counter terrorism is to "enlarge democracy and human rights, and not the reverse".

Its national chairperson Lim Kit Siang said the current wave of terrorist attacks in Bali and almost daily similar incidents in the Philippines have made Malaysians realise their personal and economic vulnerability.

He said that at a time for greater unity and resolve to face the national and international crisis of terrorism, an all-party national conference on terrorism can achieve a national consensus to condemn the act as against the Malaysian way of life.

US-led war on terrorism a failure

Lim agreed that Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad was right to tell (US President George W) Bush that the American-led war against terrorism was going badly and that a unilateralist pre-emptive military strike against Iraq to force a 'regime change' would only compound the matter.

"However, Mahathir has not been able to practise in Malaysia what he has preached to Bush to address the root causes of discontent and alienation in our society," he said at the opening of the Penang DAP convention this morning. The text of his speech was faxed to malaysiakini .

Lim said the carnage at Kuta Beach in Bali a little more than a year since the Sept 11 attacks was testimony of the failure of the US-led international coalition and war against terrorism, either to eradicate the al-Qaeda or to address the root cause of terrorism.

He also said that Mahathir's comments after a visit to India on the possibility that "Malaysia may be subject to the same kind of attacks as in Bali and the Philippines" was given extensive coverage by the international media, though not reported in the Malaysian media.

The veteran opposition politician noted that despite the existence of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, there has been an increasing spate of human rights violations and undemocratic practices illustrated by the gross abuse of police powers in the last few months.

Citing several recent incidents and pro-Internal Security Act (ISA) statements by government ministers, he said the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition should refer the proposal to make the detention-without-trial law "even more draconian" to an all-party conference on terrorism.

He also noted the angry protests from the Malaysian government against a damning United Nations Security Council monitoring report drawing financial links between individuals within the BN with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front of the Philippines, which is linked to al-Qaeda.

Give MPs copy of UN report

The report was based on a book 'Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror' authored by terrorism analyst Dr Rohan Gunaratna, who is currently mired in the controversy.

"(But despite all that), no member of parliament has got a copy of the controversial report."

Lim cited international media reports on the UN report naming Malaysia as one of the countries where al-Qaeda is suspected of having bank accounts under the name of unidentified intermediaries and that private donations to the movement, estimated at US$16 million a year, are believed to "continue, largely unabated".

"The report said the global campaign to block al-Qaeda's access to money immediately after the Sept 11 attacks has stalled, enabling the terrorist network to obtain a fresh infusion of tens of millions of dollars and putting it in a position to finance future attacks."

Quoting from media reports, Lim said although the US and other UN member countries moved to shutdown al-Qaeda's financial network by freezing more than US$12 million in assets belonging to suspected members and supporters, only US$10 million in additional funds have been blocked over the past eight months.

"The report said that al-Qaeda continued to draw on funds from the personal inheritance of Osama bin Laden as well as investments and money 'diverted or embezzled' from charitable organisations.

"It also states that al-Qaeda backers in North Africa, the Middle East and Asia managed at least US$30 million in investments for the group, 'with some estimates ranging as high as US$300 million' reportedly includes money from Mauritius, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Panama," stated Lim.

He said the government should make copies of the UN report available to MPs and to all political parties as this is an issue which affects all Malaysians.