Malaysia dismisses U.S. warning over terror attacks

Malaysia dismisses U.S. warning over terror attacks

Patrick Chalmers, Reuters, Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia bristled on Thursday at Washington's warnings of Bali-
style attacks on its territory, prompting talk of U.S. paranoia
as the government said those issuing such advice had security
issues of their own.

Even before the latest warning, Malaysian leaders and their
Southeast Asian counterparts had accused Western capitals of
going overboard with travel advice issued since October's bombs
in Bali killed nearly 200 people, most of them foreign tourists.

A U.S. State Department statement repeated official concerns
about the "possible heightened risks to American citizens and
American interests" in Malaysia, and particularly in the state of
Sabah, on Borneo island.

It also reiterated concern about the possibility of attacks by
the Philippines-based Abu Sayyaf militant Moro group in Sabah and
urged U.S. citizens visiting the islands or coastal regions of
eastern Sabah to exercise "extreme caution".

Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said in a
statement, "The warning issued by the United States is not new as
several Western governments have been issuing similar travel
advisory since the Sept. 11 attacks last year."

Many countries issuing warnings were themselves unsafe to
visit, he added in the statement, carried by national news agency
Bernama. "We note that there have been racist attacks and
violence against non-whites in many of these countries," he said.

A senior security official also dismissed the concern.

"This seems to be paranoia," a senior Malaysian security
source told Reuters, adding authorities had already stepped up
patrols around all embassies, with particular attention paid to
the U.S., British and Australian compounds.

"The increased surveillance also includes all other areas
where foreigners concentrate -- including the city's night spots
and places of worship -- not that many foreigners go to worship
here," said the source, who declined to be identified.

He discounted the danger of any attack on schools attended by
expatriate children saying that however fanatical militants might
be, this would go against their religion.

Immediately after the Bali bombs, diplomats in Kuala Lumpur
said privately they feared embassies faced the greatest danger of
any place in Malaysia, as attacks elsewhere in the multi-racial
country would risk killing Muslims.

In contrast to neighboring Indonesia and Philippines there
have been no bomb attacks in Malaysia.

Brig. Gen. Muhamad Yasin Yahya, head of security operations in
Sabah, said reports that the Bali bombers might move to Borneo
were unfounded.

"The security situation in Sabah is well under control now. We
are very sensitive to any incident," he said.

Singapore police broke a militant cell last December they
allegedly planned to attack U.S. targets there, but there have
been no such instances in Malaysia so far, and Washington has
proposed that Kuala Lumpur should host an anti-terrorism center.

Malaysian police have locked up about 70 militant suspects in
a campaign begun before last year's Sept. 11 attacks on the
United States, using laws allowing detention without trial.

Just this week, U.S. investigators quizzed a Malaysian
detainee said to have links with a man charged with helping to
plan the suicide airliner hijackings.

Authorities say they have chased the most dangerous militants
out of Malaysia and captured others, with any left being low-
level sympathizers lacking means to pose a threat.

In terms of tourism, seen as a key source of earnings to
counter the drop in Malaysia's electronics manufacturing, the
greatest concentration of Westerners is in Kuala Lumpur itself.

Malaysian tourism is dominated by Singapore day trippers, who
made up 5.7 million of 10 million arrivals logged by the
government for the nine months to September.