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Norian Mai should clarify whether the police had exonerated KMM from the botched  bank robbery of the PJ  Southern Bank on May 18 last year which he had earlier announced was how the police stumbled on the militant Islamic group connected to Jemaah Islamiyah and al Qaeda Media Statement by Lim Kit Siang (Petaling Jaya, Friday):  The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad has failed to convey the seriousness of the discovery of a home-grown  militant Islamic  “suicide bomber” squad announced by the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Norian Mai, claiming that  Malaysia has always been alert to the presence of terrorists on its soil and has acted ahead of other countries in preventing attacks.  This is not the account given by Norian Mai when he announced in July last year the arrest of Islamic militants, alleging that they were members of KMM, at first Kumpulan Mujahideen Malaysia and later changed to Kumpulan Militant Malaysia, and implicated in nine major crimes since 1998  including:   The assassination of the Kedah State Assemblyman for Lunas, Dr. Joe Fernandez;  The armed attack at the Guar Chempedak police station in Kedah, which left two policemen injured, in March last year;  The Deepavali eve blast, triggered by a homemade explosive, near a temple in Jalan Pudu Lama;  The explosion at Dataran Seni in Jalan Taman, Klang where an Indonesian woman sustained head and body injuries in July 2000;  The explosion during a Christmas Day carnival held at a Christian gathering;  The attempted murder of a couple in their car at a traffic light junction in Jalan Klang Lama in October, 1998;  the Hong Leong Bank robbery in Old Town, Petaling Jaya, in  December 2000; and  the Southern Bank branch robbery in Jalan Gasing on May 18 last year.   What is even more surprising, however, was the reply given by the Deputy Home Minister,  Datuk Chor Chee Heung, in the Dewan Rakyat during question time on October 21 that KMM had not been involved in any robbery case. Chor reiterated in the Parliament lobby later that there was no “direct involvement” of KMM with the Jalan Gasing Southern Bank branch in Petaling Jaya on May 18 last year. (Malaysiakini 21.10.2002)   TIME magazine of November 17, 2002  in the report “The Family Behind the Bombings” on the arrest of the Bali bombing suspect Amrozi, implicated the top al-Qaeda operative in Southeast Asia, Hambali in the  botched Southern Bank robbery operation, stating that “Astonished Malaysian police, through interrogations of the surviving robber, began piecing together the subterranean world of militant Islam”.   The TIME magazine account of the botched Southern Bank robbery and the outcome of police  interrogation  of the survivor  which led  the police to the militant Islamic organization tallied with local reports at the time.   The question now is whether Chor was right when he told Parliament that the KMM was not involved in any manner with the botched Petaling Jaya  Southern Bank robbery. Norian Mai should clarify whether the police had exonerated KMM from the botched  bank robbery of the PJ  Southern Bank on May 18 last year which he had earlier announced was how the police stumbled on the militant Islamic group connected to Jemaah Islamiyah and al Qaeda   The IGP should also explain  why no one has been charged so far  in the series of crimes attributed to the KMM, including the assassination of Fernandez, so that public trials could be held to vindicate the rule of law in the Malaysian democracy.   (29/11/2002) * Lim Kit Siang, DAP National Chairman