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Terrorism: They are terrorists, no two ways about it

IN any part of the world, if there is a terrorist attack, suspicion always falls on Muslims first.

And if the terrorists are from another country, the media would label the countries from where the terrorists originate as pro-terrorist regimes.

Two atrocities -- one in Oklahoma City, the United States, in 1995 and the other in Oslo, Norway, last week -- should change these perceptions. These incidents show that one should not rush to label all Muslims as terrorists.


The definition of terrorist is different, depending on which point of view one holds. For the Palestinian people, terrorists mean freedom fighters.

But Timothy McVeigh, the man who carried out the Oaklahoma bombing, and Anders Behring Breivik, the man who killed at least 76 people in Norway, are regarded as mass murderers. They should be treated as terrorists.

Some analysts have been quoted by the foreign media as saying that these two could not be categorised as terrorists because they were locals who killed their own people. Isn't that a double standard?


A terrorist is a terrorist. Forget the fact that he is an outsider or that he belongs to some religious group.

The West should look at those who are right-leaning. Young people in Europe and the US are being influenced by those in the far-right.

Behring Breivik's 1,500-page manifesto indicates the seriousness of the matter and the West needs to give it serious consideration. The advancement of far-right thinking will hamper the advocacy of rule of law and human rights.

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