The author of a book which the United Nations had drawn upon to link Barisan Nasional to al-Qaeda refuted several accusations levelled against him on the grounds that he never portrayed a direct link between the two.

Dr Rohan Gunaratna referred to the disputed section in the book, Inside al-Qaeda: Global Network of Terror , where he stated that "several individual members of political parties in Malaysia" had maintained links with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a militant separatist group in southern Philippines.

"I don't think key political leaders were aware of the link or they may be aware of it now," he said when contacted today.