(Petaling Jaya, Thursday): The
Malaysia-United States Declaration on Co-operation to Combat International
Terrorism signed and sealed in Washington yesterday during the visit of the
Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad to Washington should be
submitted to Parliament next month for debate and ratification to ensure that it
does not become a blank cheque for the suppression of political dissent and
fundamental human rights.
Mahathir
said in Washington that Malaysia and the United States share the view that
military action alone would not be able to put an end to terrorism, and it is
precisely for this reason, that it is important that
the Malaysia-United States Declaration on Co-operation to Combat
International Terrorism should contain the important component of protecting and
promoting democracy and human rights in the war against international terrorism
instead of focusing solely
on intelligence and terrorist-financing
information sharing and counter-terrrorism
co-operation.
Before
Parliament ratifies the Malaysia-United States Declaration on Co-operation to
Combat International Terrorism, the Prime Minister should
table a fully frank,
truthful and comprehensive White
Paper on the
Kumpulan Militant Malaysia (KMM), Jemaah Islamiah and al Qaeda
activities, links and networks in Malaysia and agree to the establishment
of an all-party Parliamentary Committee to
examine police evidence on
KMM, Jemaah Islamiah and al Qaeda activities, links and networks in Malaysia and
to issue a credible and non-partisan report
on the threat posed by militant Islamic terrorism, national and international.
It
is most deplorable that in the past eight months since the September 11
terrorist attacks in the United States, the Malaysian government had failed to
take Parliament and the people into its confidence, and Members of Parliament
and Malaysians had to scour
the foreign media for news about al Qaeda operatives, links and activities in
Malaysia and Southeast Asia as they were blacked out by the local media.
In
fact, Parliament was only told at its last meeting in March by the Deputy Prime
Minister and Home Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Abdullah Ahmad Badawi that police
investigations showed that there were no al Qaeda cells or presence in Malaysia.
Abdullah
told Parliament that it had been established that several al Qaeda
members had entered Malaysia at
one time or another before the attacks in the
At
the joint White House media
conference with US President Bush
on Tuesday before their meeting, Mahathir admitted to a question by an American
reporter that he was wrong when he said in New York
in early February that there was no evidence of al Qaeda activity in
Malaysia. This Q & A is to
available on the White House website (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/05/20020514-8)
transcript, as follows:
“Q
Mr. Prime Minister, when you met with a group of us in New York, you said that
there was no evidence at that time that al Qaeda was actively -- was active in
Malaysia. American officials have now told us that they believe some links do
exist. Has your opinion changed since then?
“A.
THE PRIME MINISTER: Well, at that time we were not very certain, but we have
discovered that some of these people who were active, who planned to overthrow
the government by force of bombs had activity into Pakistan and eventually to
Afghanistan, where they did meet with the al Qaeda people.
“And
they - I believe that they could overthrow the government by force of bombs in
order to establish what they consider to be an Islamic state.
“Q.
You believe they are al Qaeda?
“THE
PRIME MINISTER: Yes, they are. We have found evidence that they have had
involvement with these people. But they're primarily in east Malaysia.”
Should’nt
Malaysians be the first people to be informed that there are al Qaeda operatives
and activities in Malaysia, especially after the Deputy Prime Minister had
recently told Parliament
that the police had not established any al Qaeda cell or presence in Malaysia
– instead of having this information extracted by the American press in the
White House?
The
same reporter had also asked Bush “whether it’s still the position of the
United States that Anwar Ibrahim has been jailed primarily for his political
opposition to the Prime Minister” with Bush giving the categorical reply:
“Our position has not changed”.
Although
the US position on the jailing of Anwar has not changed, its priority on the
issue has clearly undergone a sea-change after the 911
attacks – as Mahathir said Bush had not raised the issues of human
rights, democracy or the treatment of Anwar during their Oval Office meeting.
What is
eye-opening in the joint Mahathir-Bush media conference was that Bush was
prepared to overlook Mahathir’s human rights record while lambasting Fidel
Castro for being a “dictator”, “repressive” who “ought
to have free elections”, “ought to have a free press” and “ought
to free his prisoners” in response to a press question
– with Mahathir passively looking on during
the tirade which should be appropriately
directed at him as well.
Before
ratifying the Malaysia-United States Declaration on Co-operation to Combat
International Terrorism, Parliament should seek clarification as to what
Mahathir meant in his White House reply that the al Qaeda activists in Malaysia
were “primarily in east
Malaysia” as well as his interview in Washington
Post yesterday about “Malaysia-based websites advocating the philosophy of al
Qaeda and carrying news and communiqués attributed to Osama bin Laden and his
deputies” which he said were “difficult to control”.
Finally,
before ratifying the Malaysia-United States Declaration on Co-operation to
Combat International Terrorism, Parliament should direct the police to
concentrate its energies and resources to combating terrorism, now that the
Prime Minister has admitted to the
world that there are al Qaeda operatives and activities in Malaysia, and to end
the gross misallocation of resources, priorities and police personnel on
peaceful demonstrators like the May Day Gathering of workers at the KLCC in
Kuala Lumpur or the misconceived
and illegal Warta II dragnet against 3.3 million traffic summons, which
should be called off altogether.
(16/5/2002)