The government will try to gather information o­n and meet the three Malaysians arrested by the Indonesian police for their alleged involvement in the Jemaad Islamiah terrorist network, said Acting Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today.

However, he stressed that the government cannot interfere in the arrests of Malaysians who commit offences in other countries.

"If they do something wrong in another country, of course we cannot stop the local authority from arresting them," he told reporters at a function in Kuala Lumpur.

The three, who were detained yesterday, were among the 17 suspected JI members rounded up for investigation concerning the Bali bombing last October which killed nearly 200 people.

One of the Malaysians, Nasir Abbas, was identified as the head of a cell responsible for JI's operations in Kalimantan, Brunei, Sabah and Southern Philippines.

Nasir was said to be the brother-in-law of Mukhlas brother of Amrozi and Ali Amron who were both suspects in the Bali bombing and currently detained in Indonesia.

JI - which aims to establish Islamic governments in the region - is said to be linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda. The latter has been blamed for the Sept 11 attacks in New York and Washington.

Malaysia has detained over 70 alleged Islamic militants under the Internal Security Act (ISA) to date. Among them is Nik Adli, the son of PAS spiritual leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat.

Al-Arqam revival

Meanwhile, Abdullah said the state religious department - Jakim - informed the government that the banned religious movement Al-Arqam had revived its activities recently.

"We know about their latest development. Jakim will take the necessary actions, we will stop them," he said.

He added the government's policy o­n Al-Arqam was not to allow such deviant religious groups to spread their teaching.

On Tuesday, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Abdul Hamid Zainal Abidin said members of the group - banned since August 1994 - were found to have carried out activities particularly in Rawang, Selangor and the Klang Valley recently.

Suhakam recommendations

On another matter, Abdullah confirmed that he had received the latest report from the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) which called to replace the ISA with a new anti-subversion law spelling out clearly the offences deemed threatening to national security.

He said he had discussed with Suhakam chairperson Abu Talib Othman (photo) regarding the report, adding that the government will study the recommendations soon.

Among recommendations regarding the new law were that the offences must be "triable in the High Court" and that the law itself should be o­nly valid for o­ne year, with its renewal thereafter to be determined by Parliament.

Many civil groups and opposition parties have commended the proposal put forward by Suhakam.

The security law, which provides for detention without trial, was introduced to combat the communist insurgency.

Over the years, it earned notoriety when it was invoked against opposition politicians and dissidents.

Its latest political casualties are five Keadilan leaders and o­ne reformasi activist who were detained for allegedly planning to overthrow the government through militancy.

The six - who were detained in April 2001 - have denied the charge.