Project Petaling Street Blog

A few questions-
Will the British experience with the IRA insurgency hold them in good stead and ensure the safety of the British citizen? Or, at the very least give the British authorities a "knowledge and experience" base by which to formulate effective conter-terror operations?

Or is this new wave of terror/insurgency something completely new, unlike anything the British have faced before, the IRA era/the Troubles included?

Finally, what will become of British immigration policy. Will it go as rigid as the American immigration policies, or worse? And in light of this, what possible difficulties would Malaysians face?

Well, the Troubles in Ireland was primarily a violent independence movement. Nonetheless, a significant amount of negotiation was possible with the IRA's political arm Sinn Fein.

But with Islamists, the British are facing a significant problem. They do not seek independence, nor do they seek recognition. They don't even have a political arm.

What they are seeking is the reversal of British foreign policy in regards to the Middle East.

This is something the British will not capitulate to. It is far different from sitting down at a negotiation table to talk about greater autonomy for Northern Island, for example.

While the British have great experience in counter-terror and counter-insurgency, this is indeed a new threat.

Islamists are not an independence movement, and therefore, they are not seeking legitimacy. So, the extent of violence that they are willing to unleash is unlimited.

For example, the IRA would not realistically consider using a weapon of mass destruction. Islamists would.

You can expect bloodier times ahead.

I see, thank you for explaining that.
What reactions do you think the British Government could put in place in the immediate future to prevent these insurgents from causing any effective damage, or posing a credible threat to the safety of the UK?

Well, the immediate step is one that Prime Minister Tony Blair has already announced. The deportation of identified extremists. I'm sure you have already heard of that in the news.

The next important thing, of course, is to engage the community in regular dialogue. Make the community understand that it is in their best interest to give up the extremists in their midst.

Obviously, the community is made up of a great number of moderate law-abiding Muslims. They cannot afford to keep silent and remain tolerant of extremists.

Like any kind of unconventional warfare, the success of an insurgency depends on largely on the community in which it exists in. If the Muslim community makes a concerted effort to ferret out such people, then you will get results.

First of all, are we (the non-bumis, that is) really to believe that the government will abolish or tone down the New Economic Policy in the near future? We must be realistic, if you have the right to buy a property at a discount and have scholarships for your children, would you let go of these rights?

With Chinese population dwindling in Malaysia, what needs to be done depends on the Chinese themselves.

There is nothing wrong with the brain drain. In fact, we should encourage our children to move to Singapore, Taiwan, China etc. if we disagree with Malaysian government policies that are based on race and religion.

When it comes to the matter of the dwindling number of Chinese Malaysians, we should talk about quality, not quantity.

We should resolve why the Chinese-Malaysian population is reducing. Official figures have more than one million Chinese Malaysians emigrating over the past 25 years. Why did they emigrate? I am sure the government knows.

Straight A students can't get scholarships or university places. Nothing new, it is been that way for the past 35 years. Nowadays, even enlightened malay Malaysians are speaking up on this injustice. The MCA and Gerakan? Busy making money from private colleges.

What is so great about having TAR College or Utar which took more than 35 years of begging? Why should it be so difficult to set up an independent university when we have scores of public ones?

While we push young talented people away, other countries notably Singapore, the US and Australia welcome them with open arms.

Is it logical that we drive away our young talented ones and then invite retired Mat Sallehs to live here and exploit our low-cost of living?

Singapore's success in particular owes much to these ex-Malaysians or their descendants including Hon Sui Sen, Goh Keng Swee, Goh Chok Tong, just to name a few.

About 30 percent of top management in both Singapore's government and corporate sector are ex-Malaysians. We export them so that Singapore can compete with, and then whack us.

Korea and Taiwan, both way behind us in the 70s and 80s are now way ahead. Thailand is breathing down our necks.

Sadly, there is just no integrity in the nation's leadership.