The televised confessions of four Malaysian militants prove that terrorists pose a major threat in Southeast Asia, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said.

Abdullah, whose country has detained without trial more than 80 alleged Islamic militants, said sceptics had charged the government with fabricating the threat.

"I hope Malaysians will be able to understand the reality of such a threat after the confessions," he was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times today.

Abdullah was commenting on a programme aired last week by private television station TV3 featuring four self-confessed members of the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terror network currently under arrest in Indonesia.

The four - Mohamed Nasir Abas, 35, Amran Mansor, 39, Jaafar Anwarul, 53, and Shamsul Bahri Hussein, 37 - all confirmed the existence of JI, revealing details of their involvement in its operations and bombings.

JI was behind the Bali bombings which killed more than 200 people on Indonesia's tourist island in October 2002, and a string of other attacks.

Suhakam slams televised confessions

Malaysia's Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) has criticised the televised confessions, however, questioning the circumstances under which the four made their confessions.

Suhakam and other rights groups are opposed to Malaysia's Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows for detention without trial, and have demanded evidence of JI's existence and the involvement of the militants held under the act.

The government maintains the ISA is needed as a first line of defence against terrorism.

In the television programme, Mohamed Nasir confirmed links between JI and Osama bin Laden by alleging that members carried out bombings in accordance with a 'fatwa' or religious edict issued by Bin Laden.

Bin Laden's call on Muslims to kill Americans was passed on to members by two of JI's leaders, Hambali and Abu Bakar Bashir, Mohamed Nasir said.

Hambali is now in US custody after being arrested in Thailand last year, while Abu Bakar Bashir is to be released from a Jakarta prison on April 30 after Indonesia's supreme court halved a three-year sentence for immigration offences and document forgery. - AFP