Opposition party PAS today criticised the government for allowing a team of US investigators to interrogate a terror suspect held in Kamunting detention camp.

The move "undermines our independence by allowing foreigners to take over the country's affairs," PAS youth chief Mahfuz Omar ( photo ) told AFP .

US officials yesterday questioned Yazid Sufaat about his connections with Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person to have been put on trial in the United States over the Sept 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

"It's a slap in the face for the Malaysian police force as it is as if the home minister does not trust his own force," said Mahfuz.

Yazid ( left ) is alleged to have hosted Moussaoui during a visit to Malaysia a year before the attacks and to have provided him with a letter of appointment as US marketing agent for a Malaysian computer software company.

Capacity-building

PAS has also denounced a plan to set up a regional anti-terrorism training centre in the country in conjunction with the US.

The government has stressed that the establishment would not involve any deployment of US troops in Malaysia, but would concentrate on "capacity-building" for the war on terrorism.

The cabinet is expected to make a final decision on the proposal at a meeting Wednesday, the Utusan Malaysia newspaper reported today.

Mahathir signed an anti-terrorism pact with the US during a visit to the White House in May, and his government has detained more than 70 Islamic militants over the past year.

Many of them are allegedly members of Jemaah Islamiah, which is suspected of involvement in the bombing in the Indonesian resort of Bali on Oct 12 which killed nearly 200 people. AFP