RP says senior JI figure captured

RP says senior JI figure captured

PHILIPPINES: The Philippines said on Sunday it has captured one
of the top operatives of Southeast Asian militant Islamic group
Jamaah Islamiyah (JI).

Defense Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Taufik Rifqi was
arrested on Oct. 2 in a hotel in Cotabato city on the southern
island of Mindanao, where the military is battling a host of Moro
rebel groups fighting for an Islamic state.

"It seems he is No. 3 in Southeast Asia," Ermita said of
Rifqi's rank in Jamaah Islamiyah, which has been blamed for last
year's bombings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali and
accused of links with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

Security officials announced the arrest of Rifqi hours before
U.S. President George W. Bush arrived in Manila on Saturday for
talks with Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on
boosting cooperation in their war on terror. -- Reuters

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Cambodia-politics-crime
Sihanouk abandons talks on govt
JP/11/ASEAN1

Sihanouk abandons talks on govt

CAMBODIA: Cambodia's King Norodom Sihanouk on Sunday abandoned
crucial talks aimed at resolving the political crisis which has
gripped the country for almost three months, after the
assassination of a senior Cambodian journalist.

He said the cancellation was inevitable, citing politically
motivated killings which had violated Cambodia's constitution.

The monarch did not refer directly to Chou Chetharith, 37, a
deputy editor of the royalist FUNCINPEC party's Ta Prum radio,
who was shot on Saturday in broad daylight in Phnom Penh by a
gunman riding pillion on a motorcycle.

But asked whether the meeting would proceed, he said: "The
adjournment is inevitable. It is a great shame for our Kingdom of
Cambodia to have to undergo multiple assassinations with
unquestionable political motivations."

In the interview, published on Sihanouk's official website,
the revered monarch also said Cambodia's constitution was being
violated by people who were "inflicting humiliations without
end." -- AFP

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Singapore-dissident-radio
Dissident fights for democracy
JP/11/ASEAN2

Dissident fights for democracy

SINGAPORE: A Muslim activist who fled Singapore in 2002 after
accusations that he had defamed founding father Lee Kuan Yew
plans to return via the airwaves with a message of free speech, a
state-run newspaper reported on Sunday.

From his base in Melbourne, Australia, Zulfikar Mohamad
Shariff said he had founded the Association for Democracy in
Singapore a few months ago to educate Singaporeans on free speech
and activism, including the use of defamation suits against
political opponents, The Straits Times reported.

Zulfikar, 32, former head of Muslim website Fateha.com and an
advocate for Muslim girls who wished to wear the headscarf in
Singapore's schools, told the daily the group planned to air a
radio news program for Singapore listeners via an Indonesian
station.

Now a researcher of government transparency at Australia's
Monash University, Zulfikar said his association was funded by
donations and advised by a small set of opposition leaders
including J.B. Jeyaretnam, who has been repeatedly sued for libel
over the years by the city state's ruling party. -- Reuters