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.