By ROHAN SULLIVAN, Associated Press Writer -
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - The fundamentalist Islamic opposition opened its election campaign Friday by claiming Washington is going easy on the prime minister about Malaysia's role in supplying a nuclear black market because it wants him returned to power.
The opposition hopes to dent Abdullah's bid as an anti-corruption reformer by questioning his handling of an investigation into a Malaysian company controlled by his son that made centrifuge parts for Libya's nuclear programs.
Police cleared the company, Scomi Precision Engineering, of any wrongdoing, finding it was deceived into making the parts by Buhary Syed Abu Tahir, a middleman working for the trafficking network in Pakistani nuclear secrets.
But opposition groups allege the investigation didn't delve deep enough into Tahir's links to the prime minister's son, Kamaluddin Abdullah. At the time of the deal, the two directed an investment company that controls Scomi.
President Bush has called Tahir, a Sri Lankan, the network's "chief financial officer and money launderer," but he remains free in Malaysia, where authorities say he has committed no crime. A top U.S. nonproliferation official flew to Malaysia this weeks for talks with Abdullah about tightening global controls, although Malaysia has indicated resistance to signing such treaties.
Abdul Hadi Awang, the leader of the Islamic Party, told a news conference Friday that Washington was treating Abdullah's coalition softly before the elections to prevent the Islamic party from winning.
"Bush is not serious in handling the issue of nuclear proliferation," said Hadi, whose party advocates a Taliban-style criminal code including execution by stoning. "He has to protect governments which sympathize with the U.S."
