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SINGAPORE, Jan 27 (AFP) - An Indonesian Muslim cleric being investigated for alleged involvement in a Southeast Asian terrorist network has denied calling for a holy war in Singapore and Malaysia.

But Ustad Abu Bakar Ba'asyir told Singapore's Sunday Times that the largely Roman Catholic Philippines deserved to be the target of a jihad, and admitted having met some militants detained in Singapore and Malaysia over the past decade as a preacher.

Dozens of suspects linked by authorities to the Al Qaeda international network led by fugitive militant Osama bin laden have been rounded up in Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines in the wake of the September attacks in the United States.

Ba'asyir denied while under Indonesian police questioning last week that he was associated with al-Qaeda but hailed bin Laden as "a true Muslim fighter."

"I advocate jihad because it is important in the Koran," the 64-year-old Ba'asyir was quoted as saying in the interview with the Singapore newspaper.

"But I make it clear to my students that it should only be done in places where Muslims are being victimised, like in Afghanistan, Bosnia and southern Philippines.

"It makes no sense for me to call for a jihad in Singapore and Malaysia. There is no evidence that these countries are ill-treating Muslims," the preacher reportedly added.

He said militants detained by Singapore for allegedly plotting attacks on American and other targets may have been engaged in "a trial practice before going off to Afghanistan" or "might have been manipulated by a third party." He did not elaborate.

Ba'asyir accused Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad of having political motives in detaining alleged militants.

"A lot of the Muslim activists that have been jailed by Mahathir have done nothing wrong. He manipulated the situation to create a very negative view of them," he added.

Both Singapore and Malaysia accuse Ba'asyir of terror links. Singapore tagged him as a leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah regional terror network which authorities in the city-state have described as having a "clear link" to al-Qaeda.

Malaysian police have said Ba'asyir was a "directing figure" of a militant group there which is closely linked to Jemaah. They say 23 group members, including four Indonesians and three Singaporeans, have been held since December.

Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-populated country, has previously played down fears it may be harbouring al-Qaeda-linked militants.

But the recent arrest in the Philippines of Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, a young Indonesian accused of being the explosives expert for Jemaah, has apparently prompted a more active stance.

Al-Ghozi once studied at an Islamic boarding school run by Ba'asyir, who heads the Indonesian Mujahedin Council, which campaigns for "sharia" Islamic law in Indonesia,

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