Law & Paneir

It is quite a while that I analyzed political situation of our country. Election is around the corner. Many think-tanks and other organizations are making predication. Many of the surveys are one sided without proper ground observations. The statement made by Director of CID Bukit Aman, Datuk Seri Mohd Bakri Zinin [Source: Bernama] yesterday stating that the PDRM will be neutral and won't take any sides actually inspired me to write this piece of opinion. For the first time in the history of Malaysian elections a high rank police officer made such a statement. Apart from that ex-top officers of our military who aligned with other side is another indication that the change is inevitable. Further the government's domestic and external debt [Source: Free Malaysia Today]as below is an added indication which become clearer, the change is unavoidable. There are clear signs which I had observed since 2008 and for example, the desperation of t...

BEIRUT: Two Malaysians have been charged with belonging to the terrorist network Al-Qaeda after being arrested in Beirut last week and are set to re-appear in court Monday, according to a security source. It is believed the pair were in Lebanon en route to Syria, where they planned to join the rebels in fighting the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, the source added. The pair were formally charged last Thursday, according to a Malaysian news agency, after being arrested in their hotel room in Beirut’s Hamra district by members of Army Intelligence earlier in the week. Rafik Mohammad Aref and Mohammad Razin Shaaban, both in their 20s, are fluent Arabic speakers, and it is believed they underwent terrorist training in Yemen in 2007, after being recruited into the organization by compatriot Mustafa Mansour. Both had been monitored closely by Lebanese intelligence authorities upon arrival to Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport in early October, t...

By Nikhila Henry The nearly 200-year-old Ujjaini Mahankali temple in Secunderabad which opens its doors to thousands of visitors everyday doesn't have security personnel to do routine frisking, and the main entrance of the temple which opens into a courtyard, does not have metal detectors except for a few CCTV cameras. In the wake of Thursday's twin blasts that has so far left 16 dead and 117 wounded, police said it had beefed up security in all places where denizens frequent in large numbers, but a tour of some of the popular places of worship in the twin cities showed only a bare minimum security. Militant groups in India have always targeted mosques and temples as they are easy to hit and can cause maximum damage due to the presence of hundreds of devotees. The 2002 attack on the Sai Baba temple in Hyderabad, the failed bomb attack again on 2007 and the Mecca Masjid blasts in 2007 are all reasons why, temples and mosques, must be heavily guarded, exper...

As I mentioned awhile back, I devoted a good chunk of my vacation out west reading Piers Brendon's The Decline and Fall of the British Empire, 1781-1997 . As you might imagine, I spent a lot of time thinking about possible parallels and lessons for America's current global position, just as English imperialists spent a lot of time pondering the Roman experience (ably documented by Edward Gibbon). In a tapestry this rich and varied, it is easy to read into it just about any "lesson" one wants to draw. With that caveat in mind, here are the top ten lessons on empire that I drew from Brendon's book. Even if you don't agree with them, you should still read the book.  1. There is no such thing as a "benevolent" Empire. In his classic history of ancient Rome, Gibbon had noted that "There is nothing more adverse to nature and reason than to hold in obedience remote countries and foreign nations, in opposition to their inclination and i...

Attacks on the West have been conducted through two different types of terrorist organizations: the sleeper cell and the hit squad. The term "sleeper cell" means different things to different people, and is used to reference a variety of threats. Sleeper cells are groups of terrorists who are already in place and ready to act, as opposed to hit squads which are infiltrated into the target country shortly before an attack. Sleeper cells are trained and ready to carry out attacks at a designated time and place. According to some, the teams assembled in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam were classic al-Qaeda sleeper cells. Sleeper cells are loosely organized, and blend into communities easier through legitimate employment. The most significant Islamist terrorist plots in the US generally did not involve sleeper cells but rather terrorists who have came from abroad. Mission specific terrorist cells are the threat from the outside. They deploy aliens, assembled oversea...

In order to designate a country as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, the Secretary of State must determine that the government of such country has repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism. Once a country has been designated, it continues to be a State Sponsor of Terrorism until the designation is rescinded in accordance with statutory criteria. A wide range of sanctions are imposed as a result of a State Sponsor of Terrorism designation, including: A ban on arms-related exports and sales. Controls over exports of dual-use items, requiring 30-day Congressional notification for goods or services that could significantly enhance the terrorist-list country's military capability or ability to support terrorism. Prohibitions on economic assistance. Imposition of miscellaneous financial and other restrictions. CUBA Cuba was designated as a State Sponsor of Terrorism in 1982. Current and former members of Basque Fatherland and Liberty (...

Description: Designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on September 1, 2010, Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is a Pakistan-based terrorist organization formed in 2007 in opposition to Pakistani military efforts in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Previously disparate militant tribes agreed to cooperate and eventually coalesced into TTP under the leadership of now deceased leader Baitullah Mehsud. The group officially presented itself as a discrete entity in 2007. TTP has been led by Hakimullah Mehsud since August 2009. Other senior leaders include Wali Ur Rehman, the TTP emir in South Waziristan, Pakistan. TTP's goals include overthrowing the Government of Pakistan by waging a terrorist campaign against the civilian leader of Pakistan, its military, and NATO forces in Afghanistan. TTP uses the tribal belt along the Afghan-Pakistani border to train and deploy its operatives, and the group has a symbiotic relationship with al-Qa'ida (AQ). TTP draws ide...

Description: Designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) on December 26, 2001, Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LeT) is one of the largest and most proficient of the traditionally Kashmir-focused militant groups. It has the ability to severely disrupt already delicate regional relations. LeT formed in the late 1980s as the militant wing of the Islamic extremist organization Markaz Dawa ul-Irshad, a Pakistan-based Islamic fundamentalist mission organization and charity founded to oppose the Soviet presence in Afghanistan. Led by Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, LeT is not connected to any political party. Shortly after LeT was designated as an FTO, Saeed changed the name to Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JUD) and began humanitarian projects to avoid restrictions. LeT disseminates its message through JUD's media outlets. Elements of LeT and Jaish-e-Muhammad (JEM) combined with other groups to mount attacks as “The Save Kashmir Movement.” The Pakistani government banned LeT in January 2002 and JUD in...

Description:   Designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on October 23, 2002, Jemaah Islamiya (JI) is a Southeast Asia-based terrorist group co-founded by Abu Bakar Ba'asyir and Abdullah Sungkar that seeks the establishment of an Islamic caliphate spanning Indonesia, Malaysia, southern Thailand, Singapore, Brunei, and the southern Philippines. More than 400 JI operatives have been captured since 2002, including operations chief and al-Qa'ida (AQ) associate Hambali. In 2006, several members connected to JI's 2005 suicide attack in Bali were arrested; in 2007, JI emir Muhammad Naim (a.k.a. Zarkasih) and JI military commander Abu Dujana were arrested; and in 2008, two senior JI operatives were arrested in Malaysia and a JI-linked cell was broken up in Sumatra. In September 2009, JI-splinter group leader Noordin Mohammad Top was killed in a police raid. Progress against JI continued in February 2010, when Indonesian National Police discovered and disbanded...

Overview:  Malaysia's counterterrorism cooperation with the United States has improved in recent years and it was an important counterterrorism partner in 2011.  Malaysia has not suffered a serious incident of terrorism for several years, but was vulnerable to terrorist activity and continued to be used as a transit and planning site for terrorists.  In spite of new measures to improve border security, weak border controls persisted in the area contiguous with Thailand in northern Malaysia, and there were gaps in maritime security in the tri-border area of the southern Philippines, Indonesia, and the Malaysian state of Sabah.  Royal Malaysian Police (RMP) cooperated closely with the international community on counterterrorism efforts, and RMP and other law enforcement officers participated in capacity building training programs.   Legislation and Law Enforcement:  On September 15, Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib announced that his...

The landing of insurgents with arms from Philippines to Sabah two weeks ago further affirmed my fear that the interest of national security is compromised to accommodate political means. These insurgents need to treat as invaders. They need to be captured and punished in accordance with law of our land. If this ‘invasion’ had happened elsewhere they surely will faced severe consequences from the army and security forces from that countries. Here we isolated them. We, also negotiating with them and finding a solution to allow them return to their country amicably. That’s really surprise to me. National security cannot be compromised for any reasons. The sovereignty of a country will be valued on how the security and enforcement agencies safeguarding the border of that country. That’s our highest responsibility to defense the independence of our nation. This reminds me of the Bay of Pigs invasion where the Cuban government had taken a military action to crash the invaders wh...

by Vikki Spencer   Just days after the September 11 terrorist attacks the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation began warning the public that the potential for future attacks exist, and among the threats was that of cyber terrorism. The concept is not a new one, such attacks have been taking place between Palestinian and Israeli groups, and between U.S. and Chinese sources, in response to political conflicts. And now, in light of new terrorism and cyber exclusions in insurance policies, commercial insurance buyers are wondering how to protect themselves from the potential threat of today's "hacktivists" becoming tomorrow's cyber terrorists, and weapons of mass disruption turning into weapons of mass destruction. February 2002 - Al-Qaida, (the notorious terrorist group formed by Osama bin Laden, has not engaged in computer-based attacks in the past. However, in the wake of the World Trade Center (WTC) attacks, bin Laden has suggested that Al-Qaida has the expert...