Malaysia

[Petronas]

Malaysia (Country threat level - 3): On 10 March 2005, the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur issued a Warden Message regarding a possible threat against the facility, stating: "The American Embassy in Kuala Lumpur has received information from the Malaysian government regarding an anonymous, unverified threat in central Kuala Lumpur. The U.S. government is working with the Malaysian authorities to try to verify this information. American citizens may notice an increase in security around Kuala Lumpur as a precautionary measure. U.S. citizens should refer to the current Worldwide Caution dated March 8, 2005 for current security guidance."

AIR SECURITY International - HOT SPOTS 3/10/2005

[Petronas]

Malaysia (Country threat level - 3): On 22 June 2006, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade issued the following Travel Advisory for Malaysia: "Australians in Malaysia should exercise a high degree of caution, particularly in commercial and public areas known to be frequented by foreigners. The risk of terrorist attack against Western interests in Malaysia remains.

"Australians are advised to avoid all travel to coastal resorts, islands and dive sites off the east coast of Sabah. We have received credible reports that terrorists are planning kidnapping attacks targeting resorts frequented by foreigners. Terrorists have in the past kidnapped foreigners from the eastern part of mainland Sabah, and from the islands and sea off its east coast. Kidnapping attacks in other parts of coastal and off-shore Sabah cannot be ruled out.

"Australians intending to travel overland from Malaysia to Thailand should be aware of the travel advice for Thailand which recommends that travellers defer non-essential travel to the far southern Thai provinces of Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and Songkhla, including deferring non-essential overland travel from and to the Malaysian border through these provinces..."

AIR SECURITY International - HOT SPOTS 6/22/2005

[Petronas]

Malaysia says has dismantled Islamic terror cells
Tue June 21, 2005 6:38 PM GMT+05:30

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia declared victory on Tuesday in its internal campaign against Southeast Asia's most feared Islamic militant group, but said there was room for improved U.S. cooperation in the global war on terror. "We have dismantled the JI basic structure," Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak told Reuters, referring to Jemaah Islamiah, a group blamed for a series of attacks in neighbouring Indonesia, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people. "But we cannot be too complacent," he added. "There could be certain cells (that re-establish themselves) later on if we don't monitor the situation carefully." Malaysia is viewed as having effectively used skills it acquired in ending a bitter communist insurgency in the 1960s against Islamic militancy, but some of its most wanted militants fled to Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation.

Malaysians Azahari Husin, a bomb-making expert, and Noordin M. Top, another JI member, are thought by Indonesian police to be planning another attack there. Police suspect Azahari made the bombs used in Bali and in the suicide bombing of a Jakarta hotel. "We would like them arrested as soon as possible," Najib said in an interview in his parliamentary office. "When we started to pursue them, or when they realised they were being pursued, they ran away to Indonesia. We have given the Indonesians as much information as we know about them but the actual interdiction of these people must be done by Indonesia."

Australia and the United States recently issued warnings to their citizens in Indonesia, saying intelligence suggested that terrorists were in the advanced stages of planning attacks. But Washington has been accused by some security experts of not fully cooperating with other nations in Southeast Asia, including Indonesia and mainly Muslim Malaysia.

The issue has been highlighted in the case of Indonesian JI member Hambali, a suspected bombing mastermind who is in U.S. custody but wanted for questioning across Southeast Asia. t Washington, which suspects Hambali of helping to plot the September 11, 2001, attacks on U.S. cities, has not given these countries direct access to the Muslim preacher, though it has sought access to militants held across Southeast Asia. e have pretty good exchanges with the U.S. between our own intelligence agencies, but the principle of reciprocity is also important," Najib said. Asked if this was happening, he added: t might not happen comprehensively. I think there's room for improvement."

Malaysia says winning the hearts and minds of Muslims is vital to defeating militancy, which in turn means government policies that are "consistent with the aspirations of Muslims" and finding an end to conflict in the Middle East. ou cannot bomb terrorists into submission," Najib said. hat's one thing we learned: military power alone cannot defeat terrorism. It's about people feeling that they are part and parcel of society, have a stake in society."

Malaysia has used a harsh Internal Security Act (ISA), a legacy of its counter-insurgency against the communists during British colonial times, to detain dozens of Islamic militants. But Najib said the numbers in detention were dwindling now. It even recently released a militant who had been branded JI's Malaysian "treasurer", a vital part of its funding network. Wan Min Wan Mat now lives under close surveillance in the strongly Muslim state of Kelantan, in Malaysia's northeast. "They are put under ISA, they are given counselling and if we deem that they are no longer a threat to national security then we will release them. They are being watched very, very carefully."

http://www.reuters.co.in/locales/c_newsArticle.jsp;:42b81529:ee65fa87cecb986e?type= worldNews&localeKey=en_IN&storyID=8851007

[Petronas]

US echoes Australian warning against travel to Malaysia
Saturday, June 25, 2005. 9:47pm (AEST)

The United States backed a warning from Australia advising against travelling to Malaysia's Borneo coast, saying it was also concerned that terrorists planned to kidnap foreigners there. The Malaysian Government criticised Wednesday's Australian travel warning on the east coast of Sabah state, saying that tourist destinations there are safe and that Canberra had failed to consult Malaysia over the announcement.

But the US embassy here noted that several kidnappings and piracy incidents had already occurred in the area this year, perpetrated by criminals and the Philippines-based Abu Sayyaf group. "There are indications of continued planning of kidnappings, including of foreigners, in eastern Sabah's coastal areas and offshore islands," it said in a statement which reiterated an ongoing US State Department warning. "Emergency assistance in the area may not always be available. For this reason, American citizens should defer all non-essential travel," it said.

Australia said in its travel warning dated June 22 that its citizens should avoid all travel to coastal resorts, islands and dive sites off the east coast of Sabah on Borneo island. "We have received credible reports that terrorists are planning kidnapping attacks targeting resorts frequented by foreigners," it said. The alert also urged Australians to exercise a high degree of caution throughout Malaysia as "the risk of terrorist attack against Western interests in Malaysia remains".

In response, Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said Malaysia viewed any information on possible terrorist attacks seriously but that the Australian authorities failed to consult with Malaysia over the latest warning. Deputy Defence Minister Zainal Abidin Zin also played down the advisory, saying the Borneo coast was safe for tourists to visit.

Sabah's Sipadan island came under the international news spotlight in 2000 when 21 people including 12 foreigners were abducted by Abu Sayyaf rebels. The Abu Sayyaf, which is believed to have ties to the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah terrorist group responsible for deadly bombings in Indonesia, released the captives after large ransoms were reportedly paid.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200506/s1400580.htm

[Casey]

Malaysia embassies in mail scare
From correspondents in Kuala Lumpur
05oct05

AT least six embassies in the Malaysian capital received suspicious packages today prompting a security scare and the evacuation of the Japanese mission, diplomats and police said.

The Japanese, German, Philippine and Singaporean embassies confirmed that parcels were delivered to them. Police said the missions of Thailand and Canada had also received packages.
Initial reports by the official Bernama news agency said the Australian and Italian missions had also received packages. District police chief Kamal Pasha Jamal said they had not.

The packages started arriving in the afternoon, with the Japanese embassy the first to receive one followed by the Thai embassy, police said.

The Philippines embassy was the last at 7pm local time to receive a package, which contained a CD ROM and an oily substance.

"The Philippine embassy received a package similar to the ones received by the other embassies," a police official said.

A fire engine and a hazardous materials vehicle rushed to the embassy but later left.

Mr Kamal said police assumed the packages were dangerous, and the contents had been sent to Malaysia's veterinary department laboratory for testing.

"Of course we believe it must be something poisonous, we cannot take it for granted it was safe," he said.

The police chief said the packages, delivered by express mail, appeared to originate from the central state of Selangor which surrounds Kuala Lumpur, as well as from the northern state of Kelantan.

Japanese embassy press attache Satoshi Tamai said staff were evacuated after lunch when a suspicious-looking envelope was found in the mail.

Police, a bomb disposal unit and fire engines went to the building, which was declared safe three hours later.

"We can tell you it was suspicious mail and we reported it to the police," Mr Tamai said. "The contents are still being investigated to see if it's biological stuff and I think we are still waiting for the results."

Reports earlier said the packages contained a video compact disc with an oily substance and powder, but Mr Kamal said there was no powder.

"The Japanese saw it was a VCD covered with some liquid form, like glue," he said.

German embassy spokeswoman Susanne Baumann said the mission received a package containing a foul-smelling compact disc. Police were immediately called to investigate, she said.

The Singapore High Commission confirmed it had received a package but declined to give details of its contents.

Security at diplomatic missions in Kuala Lumpur was strengthened following the September 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States.

There have been a number of security scares since then, including the burning down of the Burmese embassy in April last year by enraged refugees.

There have been no major terrorist attacks on Malaysian soil but authorities have detained scores of alleged Muslim militants accused of belonging to regional terror groups such as the al-Qaeda linked Jemaah Islamiah.


http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,16820989%255E23109,00.html

[Petronas]

Non-Muslims 'must wear scarves'
26/10/2005 09:27 - (SA)

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia's government has endorsed a university's ruling that requires non-Muslim women to wear headscarves on its campuses, a report said on Wednesday. The minister in charge of national unity, Maximus Ongkili, said the decision by the International Islamic University earlier this year was not a religious one, but merely part of university procedures. "As the rule was approved by the university senate, it is not religious in nature but a matter of uniforms that must be followed. It does not breach basic human rights," Ongkili was quoted as saying in the Star daily.

Malaysia's population of 25 million people is dominated by some 60 percent of Muslim Malays, with Chinese and Indians making up 26 percent and 8.0 percent respectively. The growing influence of Islam on Malaysian society over the past two decades has seen a major increase in the number of Malay Muslim women wearing headscarves as a sign of religious devotion.

Ongkili told parliament that Malaysians had to respect rules formulated by the government and other institutions to prevent social unrest. "In a multi-racial country each community must respect one another. But at the same time we must respect the laws of the country, institutions and organisations to ensure there is no disturbance to the community," he said.

He was responding to opposition leader Lim Kit Siang, who had read out an email from a non-Muslim undergraduate from the university complaining she was forced to wear a headscarf to her graduation ceremony. Lim accused the government of recanting on an April statement that non-Muslims would be "encouraged" but not forced to wear headscarves. "So why the change now? Is this not disrespectful of a plural society," he said according to the Star.

The government-funded International Islamic University has three campuses around Malaysia. Its board includes representatives from the governments of Pakistan, Libya, Egypt, the Maldives, Bangladesh and Turkey, as well as the Organisation of the Islamic Conference.

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1823632,00.html

[Petronas]

AFP question Hambali's man
November 16, 2005

A KEY Jemaah Islamiah operative sent to Australia by captured terrorist leader Hambali to set up a terror cell has been questioned by Australian Federal Police investigating the activities of the Sydney and Melbourne terror suspects charged last week. Two AFP officers flew to Kuala Lumpur in August to question Azman Hashim, the JI military expert who ran a paramilitary weapons training camp for Australians in the Blue Mountains. Reports out of Malaysia have said that Hashim, who has been detained under Malaysia's Internal Security Act, had revealed that some Australians had trained in the camp in 2002. The AFP yesterday said it could not comment. Justice Minister Chris Ellison said yesterday two AFP counter-terrorism officers had recently questioned Hashim, but said no direct links had been established to the terrorism-related matters currently before the courts. However, he said Hashim remained a "person of interest" in relation to other counter-terrorism matters.

It is understood that Hashim had already answered hundreds of questions posed by Australian authorities over the past year. But police wanted to question him more closely about some new developments. Hashim was sent by Hambali, the JI operations mastermind who was the link between JI and al-Qaeda - to establish a terror cell in Australia known as Mantiqi 4. Terror expert and author of Inside al-Qaeda, Rohan Gunaratna, said Hashim was a "terrorist trainer". "The fact that he has been detained demonstrates his importance," he said.

Dr Gunaratna said Hashim was very close to Hambali, and was a "very significant player who had an important role in building the JI infrastructure". Hambali was captured in Thailand in 2003 and is being held in an undisclosed location by US authorities. Australian authorities have been unable to interview him. Hashim is believed to have arrived in Australia in 1998 and and lived on Sydney's northern beaches. He allegedly used false documents to obtain work in a factory making sliding doors. A graduate of Camp Abu Bakar, a JI military training facility in the southern Philippines, Hashim set up the training camps teaching Australians guerilla warfare and weapons handling.

Hashim was arrested in Sandakan on February 28, 2003, shortly after he arrived back in Malaysia from Australia. He has been held in the Kamunting detention camp in the town of Taiping ever since.

The news of the interviews come as Australia and Malaysia yesterday signed two treaties aimed at strengthening co-operation against terrorism and transnational crime. Senator Ellison and Malaysian Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail signed an extradition treaty and another pact on mutual legal assistance on criminal matters. Canberra has been keen to collaborate and share skills and information on terrorism and organised crime with Malaysia, in the hope the information will help in the hunt for the terrorists who move around the region and "co-locate" in both countries.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17260884-2,00.html

[Solo]

Weapons stolen from Malaysia paramilitary camp - report
Sun Dec 4, 2005 2:37 AM IST170

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian police are hunting for thieves who cut wire fencing around a paramilitary camp in a northeastern state and took 21 weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, state news agency Bernama said on Saturday.

It was believed to be the second such theft since a July 2000 incident when a group of Muslim militants posing as army officers drove into two army posts to grab a cache of arms, although the militants surrendered after two days.

An armoury guard reporting for work on Saturday morning discovered the theft at the paramilitary camp in Gong Badak in the state of Terengganu, Bernama said.

Police threw up roadblocks to search vehicles around the camp and tightened security along the nearby border with Thailand, it added.

http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-12-04T023354Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-226204-1.xml&archived=False

[Solo]

Weapons stolen from Malaysia paramilitary camp - report

More details.


Weapons cache stolen from army
From: Agence France-Presse
From correspondents in Kuala Lumpur

December 04, 2005

SOME 21 firearms, including Steyr rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammunition have gone missing from a police camp in Malaysia, the official Bernama news agency has reported.
The weapons were missing from a camp in Gong Badak just outside Kuala Terengganu, capital of the eastern state of Terengganu, it said.

Terengganu police chief Hussein Ismail said police had received a report of the missing firearms.

"We are investigating it ... and we are still verifying the stocks," he told Bernama.

Police sources said a guard at the store discovered the break-in during the change of shift.

Bernama said the missing firearms included Browning pistols and Steyr rifles, which are standard issue in the Malaysian military, and more than 500 rounds of ammunitions.

Police have launched a search for the missing weapons and set up road blocks along all roads leading out of the state and at the Kelantan-Thailand border, it said.

In July 2000, a group of 15 men in military uniform broke into two army camps in the northern state of Perak.

They took off with more than 100 assault rifles, machine guns, rocket launchers, 5,000 bullets and four hostages.

After being surrounded by the army and police, the group, which belonged to the shadowy Al-Ma'unah Muslim cult, tortured and killed two hostages and finally surrendered after a five-day siege.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,17456072-23109,00.html

[keith]

Malaysian minister placates US couple harassed by Islamic officials
(AFP)

27 October 2006



KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia’s tourism minister was to meet and placate an elderly American couple harassed by Muslim religious officials on the northern tourist island of Langkawi, a report said on Friday.


Randall Barnhart, 62, and his wife Carole, 61, were rudely awakened in their rented apartment in the early hours of the morning earlier this month by religious officials conducting a raid on ‘khalwat’ couples.

Under Islamic law, which operates alongside the civil code in multicultural Malaysia, ‘khalwat’ -- close proximity between a man and a woman who are not married -- is forbidden.

The couple, who were on a six-week sailing holiday in Malaysia, have been married for 42 years and are Christians.

Tourism Minister Adnan Mansor expressed concern that the incident on Langkawi, an idyllic island off Kedah state promoted as a sailing hub, would affect the country’s image.

‘I have communicated with Barnhart through emails and plan to meet him soon,’ Adnan was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times newspaper.

Barnhart complained to police and the US embassy over the raid, which saw the officials yelling and pounding on the couple’s door at two in the morning.

Barnhart, who answered the door, said the officials demanded to see his ‘woman’ and insisted on being shown their marriage licence and passports, according to the newspaper.

He said his wife was terrified by the incident and insisted on going back to the United States.

Barnhart asked for an apology from Kedah state’s religious department and compensation of 4,315 ringgit (1,183 dollars), the newspaper said.

http://www.khaleejtimes.ae/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2006/October/theworld_October1029.xml&section=theworld

[Petronas]

Muslim Malaysia faces crucial test on religious freedom
Thu Jan 11, 10:52 AM ET

Malaysia's status as a moderate Muslim country is being put to the test in a milestone court decision that may allow Muslims to renounce their faith, a move considered one of Islam's greatest sins. The nation's highest court is to rule on an appeal by Lina Joy, a convert from Islam to Christianity who for a decade has been locked in a battle with the government to have her decision legally recognised.

The appeal brings to a head passionate arguments about whether Muslims can renounce Islam at will and, ultimately, whether Malaysia is a secular country or is morphing into a conservative Islamic state under religious Sharia law. "Our country is at a crossroads pending the outcome of this landmark case," Joy's counsel, Benjamin Dawson, told AFP. "This decision is pivotal to the direction the country will take."

The 42-year-old woman at the centre of the case is a member of Malaysia's majority ethnic Malay community, who make up 60 percent of the population of more than 26 million. Born a Muslim and called Azlina Jailani, she says her introduction to Christianity in 1990 changed her life for the better. But it has left her fighting the authorities since 1997, first for her new name to be put on her identity card, then to have her former religion removed.

"Although I have been brought up as a Muslim, I have, from the beginning, not believed in the practices and teachings of Islam," Joy, who rarely speaks to the media, said in a 2000 affidavit to a high court. "I find more peace in my spirit and soul after having become a Christian. As such, I am of the opinion that I would be unfaithful, untrue and unfair to myself and to others should I carry on projecting myself as Muslim." Her appeal to the federal court centres on whether she must go to a Sharia court to have her renunciation recognised before authorities strike the word "Islam" off her identity card.

The court's ruling is seen as pivotal because it could resolve a paradox in the constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion but defines Malays as Muslims. Malaysia's civil courts operate parallel to Sharia courts for Muslims in areas of personal law such as divorce, child custody and inheritance.

The question of which takes precedence, however, is increasingly murky in cases that involve both Muslims and non-Muslims, who have little say in Sharia courts. Lower courts have so far rebuffed Joy's efforts, ruling that only Islamic courts can recognise her conversion.

However, the Islamic courts are loath to approve apostasy -- renouncing Islam, which some Muslim scholars say is punishable by death -- setting up a Catch-22 situation for would-be converts.

The debate has grown increasingly fierce as Malays have become more openly pious, a phenomenon non-Muslim communities see as a worrying "Islamisation" of the country. Analysts say the resurgence is fueled by a decades-old fight between the ruling United Malays National Organisation party and its Islamic opposition to prove their religious credentials and "out-Islamise" each other.

While rights campaigners argue that Malays have a right to renounce Islam, Muslim groups have denounced Joy's legal challenge as a ploy to undermine the religion's status.

"The process amounts to an attempt to deconstruct, to change radically the position of Islam as it is in the constitutional legal set-up of the country," said Yusri Mohammed, the president of the influential Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia. "We see this as something which is unacceptable, something which is a threat to the socio-religious harmony of the country."

Harussani Zakaria, the mufti of Perak state, recently cited a report that 100,000 Malays had renounced Islam and more were lining up to do so, although he has not provided details. While Yusri said any social unrest over the Joy case would be "manageable," emotions are frayed in a country which rarely sees demonstrations or acts of political violence.

Threats against her lawyers have been released on websites and in August, posters were circulated anonymously calling for the death of lawyer and rights activist Malik Imtiaz Sarwar, who has argued in Joy's case. "It is a symptom of the breakdown of civilised dialogue in this country. It is a sign of the reactionary times ahead," he wrote in a newspaper article on the threats.

Meanwhile, Joy's battle continues. She is forced to keep a low profile for fear of retaliation from Muslim groups, and although she is now engaged to a Christian man, she cannot marry him. Under Malaysian law, non-Muslims must convert to Islam if they want to marry a Muslim.

Ivy Josiah of the Women's Aid Organisation, part of a coalition of groups watching over Joy's case, said it was about a woman's right to live her life freely. "At a very personal level, here is a woman who's been for the past 16 years saying 'I'm a Christian. I want to get married, I want to have children' and no one is hearing her. "And the state is saying, 'You are not allowed to do this'," she said.

Dawson, Joy's lawyer, said he expects a decision in the first half of 2007, and lawyers say decisions in similar cases in lower courts are being held over until the federal judges rule on her appeal.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070111/wl_asia_afp/malaysiareligionraceislam_070111145220