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.

Gunaratna came under fire by Malaysian leaders after excerpts from his book was used in a UN report to draw a link between al-Qaeda and several Malaysian groups including BN, PAS, the Islamic Youth Movement of Malaysia (Abim) and the Indian Muslim Congress of Malaysia (Kimma) via their "political and ideological links" with the MILF.

Among others, the author had been said to have written the book without proper understanding of political and religious issues in the region and that he might have produced the book with a 'hidden agenda'.

Last week, the government lodged a protest with the UN and threatened to take legal action against Gunaratna. The Home Ministry had also banned his books from being sold in local bookstores.

Shoot first, check later

Meanwhile, Gunaratna was upset with criticisms from Malaysian leaders whom he felt had unfairly castigated him before reading his book.

"Political leaders in Malaysia should be responsible and not accuse me without first reading my book. They have no respect for the way things should be done. They shoot first and then see whether they have got the right man," he said.

Gunaratna said he had no prior knowledge on how the UN monitoring group, which compiled the report, was planning to use the information in his book.

"I have not linked (BN) with al-Qaeda. What can I do if someone makes an interpretation of the material in the book?" he said.

Gunaratna said he welcomed comments from "intelligent" leaders like Pahang Menteri Besar Adnan Yaakob who was quoted in a Bernama report yesterday as saying that the government should ask the UN to eliminate the controversial submission since the material on which it was based upon had not been verified.

International bestseller

However, the author said he will not be submitting a protest to the UN against the manner in which the material in his book had been used.

"I will not write to the UN because they had not made any accusations against me. The Malaysian political leaders had made accusations against me," he said.

Unconcerned with latest reports that his books had been removed from local bookstores, Gunaratna said, "I don't care about that. My book is already an international bestseller. It will continue to sell".

He dismissed criticism that he might have made 'controversial statements' in order to sell his book, saying that his work was based on his studies into terrorism.

Gunaratna said the Malaysian government should not dispute its links with the MILF since it had brokered peace talks between the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Philippine government. The MILF is a splinter group of the MNLF.

In addition, the author said he is aware that several groups mentioned in his book as linked to MILF, such as the Movement of Islamic Unity (APU) and the Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement (MIYM), had been disbanded earlier.

"We know that but these organisations once had links to MILF," he said.

Based on knowledge

On another allegation in his book that the Sept 11 attacks had been launched from Kuala Lumpur and Hamburg, Germany, Gunaratna refused to make additional clarification saying that he wanted to "keep to the topic" that the issue was over the comments made against him by Malaysian leaders.

He reiterated that he had studied "terrorism" for the past 20 years and had written his book based on his knowledge in the field.

Gunaratna is a research fellow at the Centre of the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence of St Andrews University in Scotland. He is currently a visiting fellow at the Singapore's Institute of Strategic and Defense Studies.

To date, there has been no official response from the UN Security Council monitoring team on the matter.

Read malaysiakini columnist Farish A Noor's review of Inside al-Qaeda: Global Network of Terror .