Militants plotting to topple govts: Lee

Militants plotting to topple govts: Lee

Agence France-Presse, Singapore

Muslim militants were plotting to overthrow the governments of
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore to set up an
Asian Islamic state, Singapore's Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew
said on Friday.

In a speech at the opening of an Asian security conference,
Lee focussed on the growing threat of militant terrorist groups
which have "hi-jacked Islam as their driving force and have given
it a virulent twist."

The immediate threat to the region came from terrorist groups,
and the stability of Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim
nation and home to a nest of militants, was crucial to the future
of East Asia, he said.

Muslims who fought with al-Qaeda and Taliban forces in
Afghanistan, have established "indigenous al-Qaeda-like groups in
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and ... Singapore to
overthrow these governments and set up an Islamic state," Lee
said.

"The U.S. and others must support the tolerant non-militant
Muslims so that they will prevail," he told about 150 defense
ministers, policymakers and analysts including U.S. Deputy
Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz.

Lee said Indonesia faced the most difficult challenge as
Muslim leaders began vying for the support of militant groups
ahead of 2004 elections.

The military was one of the few institutions capable of
holding Indonesia together, but needed U.S. help to reform after
being denigrated by the 1999 East Timor violence after the vote
for independence, he said.

"The stability of Indonesia is crucial to the future of the
region and the strategic balance in East Asia."

Lee said the existence of religious terror groups, with links
to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, has been building up for
three decades and would not be put down readily.

With globalization largely U.S.-led, America and Americans
were identified as a threat to Islam, with the situation
aggravated by Washington's support for Israel in the Middle East
conflict, he told conference delegates.

Lee said the majority of Muslims had nothing to do with
terrorism or extremism, but the moderates were caught between
their sympathy for Palestinians in the Middle East and a desire
for a peaceful life.