Gov't fights back over terror smears
With Southeast Asian nations fearing economic fallout from terror bombings in Indonesia and the Philippines, one of the wealthiest, Malaysia, fought hard on several fronts today to clear its name of any taint of terrorism.
The extremely sensitive government, struggling to preserve it's image as a safe and rapidly developing country in a troubled region, criticised:
The author of a book allegedly linking the ruling coalition to the al-Qaeda terror network;
An international magazine which incorrectly identified Malaysia as a target of al-Qaeda-linked bombings;
The Australian government, which cancelled events in Malaysia over terror fears.
The book, Inside al-Qaeda: Global Network of Terror , disappeared from the shelves of major bookstores after the government said it was the basis of a "totally untruthful and offensive" United Nations Security Council report.
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