Malaysia dismisses U.S. warning over terror attacks<\/p>\n
Patrick Chalmers, Reuters, Kuala Lumpur<\/p>\n
Malaysia bristled on Thursday at Washington's warnings of Bali-
\nstyle attacks on its territory, prompting talk of U.S. paranoia
\nas the government said those issuing such advice had security
\nissues of their own.<\/p>\n
Even before the latest warning, Malaysian leaders and their
\nSoutheast Asian counterparts had accused Western capitals of
\ngoing overboard with travel advice issued since October's bombs
\nin Bali killed nearly 200 people, most of them foreign tourists.<\/p>\n
A U.S. State Department statement repeated official concerns
\nabout the \"possible heightened risks to American citizens and
\nAmerican interests\" in Malaysia, and particularly in the state of
\nSabah, on Borneo island.<\/p>\n
It also reiterated concern about the possibility of attacks by
\nthe Philippines-based Abu Sayyaf militant Moro group in Sabah and
\nurged U.S. citizens visiting the islands or coastal regions of
\neastern Sabah to exercise \"extreme caution\".<\/p>\n
Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said in a
\nstatement, \"The warning issued by the United States is not new as
\nseveral Western governments have been issuing similar travel
\nadvisory since the Sept. 11 attacks last year.\"<\/p>\n
Many countries issuing warnings were themselves unsafe to
\nvisit, he added in the statement, carried by national news agency
\nBernama. \"We note that there have been racist attacks and
\nviolence against non-whites in many of these countries,\" he said.<\/p>\n
A senior security official also dismissed the concern.<\/p>\n
\"This seems to be paranoia,\" a senior Malaysian security
\nsource told Reuters, adding authorities had already stepped up
\npatrols around all embassies, with particular attention paid to
\nthe U.S., British and Australian compounds.<\/p>\n
\"The increased surveillance also includes all other areas
\nwhere foreigners concentrate -- including the city's night spots
\nand places of worship -- not that many foreigners go to worship
\nhere,\" said the source, who declined to be identified.<\/p>\n
He discounted the danger of any attack on schools attended by
\nexpatriate children saying that however fanatical militants might
\nbe, this would go against their religion.<\/p>\n
Immediately after the Bali bombs, diplomats in Kuala Lumpur
\nsaid privately they feared embassies faced the greatest danger of
\nany place in Malaysia, as attacks elsewhere in the multi-racial
\ncountry would risk killing Muslims.<\/p>\n
In contrast to neighboring Indonesia and Philippines there
\nhave been no bomb attacks in Malaysia.<\/p>\n
Brig. Gen. Muhamad Yasin Yahya, head of security operations in
\nSabah, said reports that the Bali bombers might move to Borneo
\nwere unfounded.<\/p>\n
\"The security situation in Sabah is well under control now. We
\nare very sensitive to any incident,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Singapore police broke a militant cell last December they
\nallegedly planned to attack U.S. targets there, but there have
\nbeen no such instances in Malaysia so far, and Washington has
\nproposed that Kuala Lumpur should host an anti-terrorism center.<\/p>\n
Malaysian police have locked up about 70 militant suspects in
\na campaign begun before last year's Sept. 11 attacks on the
\nUnited States, using laws allowing detention without trial.<\/p>\n
Just this week, U.S. investigators quizzed a Malaysian
\ndetainee said to have links with a man charged with helping to
\nplan the suicide airliner hijackings.<\/p>\n
Authorities say they have chased the most dangerous militants
\nout of Malaysia and captured others, with any left being low-
\nlevel sympathizers lacking means to pose a threat.<\/p>\n
In terms of tourism, seen as a key source of earnings to
\ncounter the drop in Malaysia's electronics manufacturing, the
\ngreatest concentration of Westerners is in Kuala Lumpur itself.<\/p>\n
Malaysian tourism is dominated by Singapore day trippers, who
\nmade up 5.7 million of 10 million arrivals logged by the
\ngovernment for the nine months to September.<\/p>",
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