Former Perlis MB Shahidan Kassim is contemplating taking legal action over "insinuations" that he may be linked to terrorist organisation Jemaah Islamiah (JI).

He said that the statements allegedly made by Zamihan Mat Zin, an assistant director at Jakim's Institut Latihan Islam Malaysia (Ilim) at a high-powered briefing on the JI threat, were defamatory and untrue.

shahidan kassim "I can't be a terrorist. I'm a sportsman. I could be the one affiliated to the most sporting bodies in the country," said Shahidan ( right ) when contacted by Malaysiakini .

However, Shahidan - who is also the Malaysian Amateur Athletic Association president - said that he has yet to decide when he will file the suit.

He also said that he is confident that the police will clear his name, since "they know of my movements".

"(The police) know that it is completely untrue," said Shahidan, an Umno supreme council member.

He also turned the tables on Zamihan, questioning his credentials.

NONE "Why not call the director-general of Jakim himself? Zamihan is not a high-ranking official. Who is this Zamihan?" he asked, rising to his feet.

This is not the first run-in that the flamboyant former MB has had with Zamihan. Last November, Shahidan had lodged a police report against Zamihan ( left ) over his remarks that former Perlis mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin's degree in Syariah/Arabic from the Jordan University was forged.

Shahidan had said that the statements were defamatory since Mohd Asri was appointed as mufti during Shahidan's tenure as MB of the state.

Ignorance feigned

Shahidan also feigned ignorance at the notion of Wahhabism.

"What is Wahhabi? What animal is Wahhabi? Does it have horns or not? We here in Perlis don't know what Wahhabi is," he quipped.

Wahhabism - a conservative and literalist school of Islamic thought originating in the Arabian peninsula in the 18th century - is not banned in the country.

However, it is "not encouraged" for its differences in practices from Malaysia's mainly Shafii school.

JI links to local religious gurus

Zamihan had, in the briefing on Monday night, said that JI had originated from the puritanical Islamic school of thought, Wahhabism. He then claimed that Shahidan, along with a few other notable religious figures in the country, were Wahhabists.

It is understood that Zamihan had also named PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang, Mohd Asri and the state's current mufti Juanda Jaya.

Other organisations which Zamihan had claimed to be Wahhabi-linked include religious NGO Jamaah Islah Malaysia (JIM).

Both Mohd Asri and Juanda have rubbished the claims in a joint statement issued today, calling it "extremely wicked".

They also said that both the police and Zamihan should be responsible for this fitnah (slander).

'Western agenda'

hadi awang pc 060609 02 In the meantime, Abdul Hadi ( left ) had told the PAS party organ Harakah that the move to link JI to Wahhabism is a "Western agenda and done by those trying to tarnish the name of Islam".

It was reported that the party president also joked that he "studied at a Wahhabi university, and had a Wahhabi scholarship".

"But I have my own stand," he said.

The news portal also reported PAS elections director Abdul Halim Abdul Rahman calling the allegations a "ploy" to scare the non-Muslims away from the party by labelling them as "extremists".

Calls to Zamihan have so far been futile.

The alarm against JI was raised when Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan recently announced that the militant operatives have been on a recruitment drive for students at public universities.

It was also reported that the group linked to al-Qaeda had planned to destroy the Kek Lok Si Temple in Penang as well as the Sri Subramaniar Swamy Devasthanam Hindu temple at Batu Caves.