Are world terrorists targeting Southeast Asian capitals?<\/p>\n
By Wong Chun Wai<\/p>\n
KUALA LUMPUR: Shortly after terrorists bombed the World Trade
\nCenter in New York in 1993, the FBI and CIA started an intensive
\nglobal search for Islamic militant Ramzi Yousef and his
\naccomplices.<\/p>\n
The Kuwaiti-born fugitive traveled from country to country,
\nunder different names and different guises, but finally settled
\nin Manila a year later, where he plotted to kill Pope John Paul
\nII, who was about to visit the Philippines.<\/p>\n
With him was his conspirator, Afghani-born Wali Khan Amin
\nShah, a stocky man with two fingers missing on his left hand.<\/p>\n
Wali was caught by the Philippine police after his rented
\napartment caught fire while he was making home-made bombs. Yousef
\nescaped. But Wali, too, mysteriously escaped three days later
\nfrom police custody. He showed up in Kuala Lumpur but the
\nMalaysian police were more alert. While strolling along Chow Kit,
\nhe was arrested. The press then merely reported the arrest of a
\nWest Asian man, without giving details. The man was Wali, one of
\nthe most dangerous terrorists. He was handed to the U.S. police.<\/p>\n
In his possession were four passports: Pakistani, Saudi
\nArabian, Afghan and Norwegian.<\/p>\n
Wali, who was nicknamed The Lion in Afghanistan, was regarded
\nas one of the best masterminds in the world of terrorism.<\/p>\n
His arrest was certainly one of the biggest scores in the
\nhistory of Malaysian police who decided to keep out the fanfare
\nfor political and diplomatic reasons.<\/p>\n
Wali and Yousef were both responsible for plotting to blow up
\n12 U.S. passenger airplanes.<\/p>\n
In 1994, they blew up a cinema in Manila and, in 1995, planted
\na bomb on a Philippine Airline bound for Tokyo. The blast killed
\na Japanese passenger.<\/p>\n
That was not all. According to court indictment papers in USA
\nvs Yousef, made available to the press, Wali had also earlier
\nmade a trip to Kuala Lumpur from Singapore, using a ticket issued
\nto \"W. Khan\".<\/p>\n
The next day, he flew to Manila via Singapore, this time,
\nusing the name \"Grabi Ibrahim Hahsen\" to meet Yousef.<\/p>\n
The reason for his Kuala Lumpur visit isn't clear although
\nSimon Reeve, the author of Ramzi Yousef, Osama bin Laden and the
\nfuture of terrorism -- the New Jackals quoted U.S. investigators
\nas saying Wali was \"probably in Malaysia to buy raw materials\".
\nYousef was finally arrested in Pakistan and extradited to the
\nUnited States, where he was sentenced to a 240 years in jail.<\/p>\n
In fact, U.S. investigators reportedly believed Yousef had
\nconnections in Malaysia although there were no details nor
\nevidence. Like the members of the local militant group KMM,
\nYousef, too, visited Afghanistan. During the summer of 1988,
\nwhile as a student in England, he visited Afghanistan, joining
\n25,000 foreign jihad fighters from over 35 countries.<\/p>\n
The Afghan war broke out in 1979. By the time Yousef turned
\nup, most of the 115,000 Russian troops had started pulling out.<\/p>\n
Like most of the 10 KMM militants, Yousef, too, never saw
\naction in Afghanistan, but declared themselves to be religious
\nfighters.<\/p>\n
But Afghanistan was the turning point for Yousef, like the
\nKMM. It was at the training camps where he picked up bomb-making
\nskills, learned to use weapons and, more importantly, established
\ncontacts with other terrorist groups.<\/p>\n
Those present at that time were Saudi Arabian Osama bin Laden,
\nregarded as the financier of terrorist groups worldwide, and
\nAbdurajak Abubakar Janjalani, the founder of Abu Sayyaf of the
\nPhilippines.<\/p>\n
The United States has blamed Osama's followers for the attacks
\non the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, killing
\n224 people. For the police investigating the KMM, their areas of
\nconcentration would include the origin of the group and, if it
\nexists, its network of international contacts.<\/p>\n
This point is crucial and no one should underestimate the
\nbrotherhood of such dangerous organizations.<\/p>\n
The police would probably also want to find out the agenda of
\nthe shadowy group, whether it is religious militancy or plans to
\ntopple the government by force.<\/p>\n
Experts said there were hundreds of groups including those in
\nMalaysia with \"specific national agendas.\"<\/p>\n
Last week, Deputy Home Minister Datuk Zainal Abidin Zin told
\nParliament eight of the 10 KMM members arrested were PAS members,
\nincluding Nik Adli Abdul Aziz, the son of Kelantan Mentri Besar
\nDatuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat.<\/p>\n
Nik Adli was said to have been elected leader by the KMM at a
\nmeeting of 12 members in Kampung Seri Aman, Puchong, in early
\n1999.<\/p>\n
The 34-year-old teacher supposedly made frequent trips to
\nAfghanistan, as admitted by Nik Aziz himself.<\/p>\n
The KMM, if it truly exists, is certainly a new challenge to
\nour police, as it represents a new breed of terrorists.<\/p>\n
The public will certainly want to know whether these militants
\nwere also responsible for several heinous crimes in Malaysia and
\nwhether innocent lives had been mindlessly sacrificed in pursuing
\ntheir purported religious zeal.<\/p>\n
More importantly, there must be answers to whether the KMM was
\nresponsible for hoarding a large cache of firearms and ammunition
\nfrom their alleged hideout in Puchong.<\/p>\n
The cache included an M16 assault rifle, five magazine clips
\nloaded with 5.56mm ammunitions, a revolver and a pistol, home-
\nmade bombs, several half-assembled home-made bombs and an
\nassortment of chemicals and paraphernalia in assembling bombs.<\/p>\n
The recent arrest of a Universiti Institut Teknologi Mara
\n(UiTM) graduate, who allegedly bombed two churches and a shopping
\nmall in Jakarta, has also added a new dimension to alleged
\nterrorism acts involving Malaysians.<\/p>\n
It is not clear whether he is linked to the KMM although it
\nhas been confirmed that he is a Malaysian but the public would
\ncertainly want to know the role of Malaysians who fought in
\nAmbon, the Maluku islands.<\/p>\n
Our authorities must now step up its efforts to monitor groups
\nwith militant tendencies, as they represent a new challenge to
\nour security system.<\/p>\n
There must be no compromise with groups which attempt to
\noverthrow a legally elected government by force.<\/p>\n
-- The Star\/Asia News Network<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/are-world-terrorists-targeting-southeast-asian-capitals-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }