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Terror link shakes Malaysian
coalition
By Anil Netto
PENANG, Malaysia - A United Nations report
pointing to alleged links between Malaysia's ruling
coalition and al-Qaeda has stirred up a furor here, with
the authorities vehemently denying the links. But even
as they deny the terror links, they are already talking
about beefing up the Internal Security Act (ISA) so that
detentions can no longer be challenged in court.
Some analysts are pointing out that the
authorities here are getting a taste of what they
themselves have dished out. Since mid-2001, the
authorities have detained dozens of individuals on
suspicion of militant activities without giving them a
chance to defend themselves in open court or backing
their claims with evidence.
Malaysian officials
are still bristling after the ruling coalition was
linked with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in
the Philippines last week. At the center of the
controversy is Dr Rohan Gunaratna, whose book Inside
al-Qaeda: Global Network of Terror, (see Asia Times Online's review) was the
basis of a United Nations Security Council monitoring
group report that drew the alleged link between the
ruling Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition and
al-Qaeda via the MILF.
The UN report drew
ideological and political links between the MILF and a
string of Malaysian groups: apart from the Barisan
Nasional, the reported listed the Movement of Islamic
Unity (APU), Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS), the Malaysian
Indian Muslim Congress (KIMMA), the Islamic Front of
Malaysia (IFM), the Front Malaysian Islamic Council
(FIMC), and the Malaysian Islamic Youth Movement (MIYM).
APU was an opposition coalition that has been
defunct for several years now, PAS and KIMMA are both
legitimate political parties, while few have even heard
of IFM, FIMC and MIYM.
Although these other
groups were mentioned, it is Malaysia's ruling coalition
that is feeling the most discomfort. A scathing though
defensive article by the pro-establishment New Sunday
Times said the ruling coalition's links with the MILF
came about as a result of the Mindanao peace process,
which Malaysia was requested by the Philippines
government to broker. "All these attempts to paint
Malaysia as a terrorist haven seem concerted and with a
very sinister motive," the article quoted an unnamed
ruling party member as saying.
Whether or not
there is any basis for the claim, the Malaysian
government is furious with the UN report. Even before
the October 12 Bali blast, approved foreign direct
investment in the country had plummeted. Since October
12, there has been some concern that tourism earnings
might be jeopardized as visitors could shun the whole
region. And now this - the UN report.
The
tragedy is that all these publicly unproved allegations
of militant links is having an effect on ordinary
citizens, the economy and Malaysia's usual ties with the
developed world. Australia has already canceled two
major events in Malaysia while it is increasingly
difficult for Malaysian students and professionals alike
to obtain a visa to the United States, a key trading
partner, even for legitimate business.
One
Malaysian professional who made three flights from
Penang to Kuala Lumpur to go to the US Embassy has still
not yet received his visa, forcing him to defer his
appointment in Washington. "The subtle message I am
getting is that we are not welcome in the United
States," he told Asia Times Online. (See The no-win visa wars.)
Political scientist Farish Noor had already
criticized Gunaratna's book in a piece that was first
published on Internet website Malaysiakini on July 6:
"The major problem comes where Gunaratna tries to weave
an elaborate byzantine narrative about al-Qaeda's
alleged linkages with other Islamist organizations and
movements worldwide.
"If and when proof is
required, the author merely cites 'interviews with
security agencies' in various countries all over the
world."
For a change, opposition politicians are
looking at the government to see how they will respond
to the allegations in the UN report. In April 1991,
police had accused a string of reformasi
activists, largely from the fledgling opposition party
of jailed ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim of involvement
in a militant plot to topple the government. Ten
activists were detained under the ISA without trial and
five are still being held.
But last month, the
Federal Court ruled that the initial 60-day detentions
of five of those detainees were made in bad faith. Those
still in custody, however, have not been released, as
the authorities argue that their subsequent ongoing
detention for two years was made under a different
section of the Act, under the orders of the home
minister. Critics says those orders are flawed as they
were based - or should have been based - on the findings
of the initial 60-day investigation, now ruled to have
been made in bad faith.
Television stations this
year ran clips of a bloody clash between police and
villagers in the late 1980s in an attempt to portray the
opposition party, PAS, as prone to extremist tendencies.
In another development, the so-called Malaysian
Militant Group (initially referred to as the Malaysian
Mujahidin Group, or KMM) was cleared of allegations
linking it to a bank robbery last year in central
Selangor state. Deputy Home Minister Chor Chee Heung was
reported as saying on Monday that the group has not been
involved in any robbery cases, though they were
suspected of trying to seize arms.
The group has
also reportedly been blamed for an assortment of
criminal acts: arms robbery at a police station, the
murder of a state assembly member, and the bombing of a
few churches and temples. Authorities say they represent
a security threat.
But in June last year, ISA
detainee Zainon Ismail told a Malaysian Human Rights
Commission inquiry: "I feel sad that the media [are]
doing this. The accusations that we had robbed a bank
and killed a state assemblyman, all these accusations
made by the media have had a negative effect on us and
our children.
"I was also accused as being the
founder of the KMM, but all this is just a creation of
the police. There is no such thing as the KMM," Zainon
said.
There are now close to 120 detainees being
held without trial under the ISA with close to 70
suspected of militant activities. The detained alleged
militants, all of them Muslims, are a motley unheard-of
lot, including a chicken seller, an ice-cream vendor,
engineers, company executives, a welder, lecturers,
technicians, a water-meter reader, and taxi drivers.
Some of them are said to have links with or training in
Afghanistan and Pakistan. None of the ISA detainees has
been brought to trial.
Stung by the Federal
Court decision ruling that the earlier arrests of the
reformasi activists were mala fide or made
in bad faith, the authorities plan to tighten up on the
already draconian ISA.
Much to the alarm of
human-rights groups, the government appears set on
removing the ISA altogether from the purview of the
judiciary. "The security of this country is the absolute
right of the executive," were the chilling words of Rais
Yatim, a minister in the Prime Minister's Department.
That spells even more bad news for those alarmed
by the prospect of sliding even further down the
slippery slope of authoritarianism.
(©2002 Asia
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