In response to Al-Qaeda has finances in M'sia: UN report , here are events that may help explain how Malaysia, fairly or unfairly, has been implicated in the war against terror campaign.

When Malaysia was formed on Sept 16, 1963, two countries — Indonesia and the Philippines — were very unhappy. Indonesia then under president Sukarno launched the Ganyang Malaysia campaign.

Indonesian forces which intruded into Malaysian territory were soundly dealt with by Malaysian and Commonwealth forces. An allegedly CIA-sponsored coup conducted by Suharto, which eventually brought down Sukarno, also played a pivotal role in ending the hostilities.

Then when the British Far East Land Forces withdrew, the Filipino regime at that time was quite vocal in its demand for the state of Sabah. Malaysia was then facing a communist insurgency led by the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM).

For self-preservation and in order to protect a very fragile economy, the Malaysian government was believed to have encouraged the Moro separatists in the southern Philippines, so as to distract attention from claims over Sabah and to get the Philippines Armed Forces bogged down in its back yard.

The alleged front man for this exercise was none other then the 'infamous' Tun Datu Mustapha, then Sabah's Chief Minister, who was a Muslim and had extended family in the southern Philippines.

Similar incidents have occurred the world over. More recently, the Pakistani regime's support for the Taliban through supply of arms and training neutralised a very hostile and porous border in the North-West Frontier Province with Afghanistan.

Malaysia likewise employed the concept of strategic depth. The Malaysian Armed Forces did not want to or have to engage an enemy on two fronts, the military wing of the CPM and the Philippines Armed Forces.

At that time huge resource were being expended on military hardware and personnel by components of the Malaysian Armed Forces. For instance, the Rajang Area Security Command (Rascom) in Sarawak, Gua Musang in Kelantan and Bentong in Pahang were a hotbed of communist activity. The Royal Malaysian Navy had to deal with the spillover from the Vietnam war, refugees, pirates, etc.

Hence with financing by Colonel Muammar Qaddafi's Libya, the campaign in the southern Philippines was stepped up in the spirit of Muslim brotherhood.

Covert operations were conducted and gun running was rife. Malaysian special forces were alleged to have clandestinely conducted training for the Moro separatists in established camps in Sabah.

In southern Thailand, another group of Muslim brothers were facing an onslaught from the Royal Thai Armed Forces. This group called itself the Patani United Liberation Organisation (Pulo). Malaysia's political elite lent moral support to the group which was allowed to have offices in the northern states of Malaysia.

As a direct result, Thailand's southern military command vehemently opposed any and all forms of co-operation with the Malaysian military which requested assistance against the CPM, which had bases in southern Thailand. The Thai military command totally ignored the activities of the CPM within its borders.

It was in fact much later that the Malaysian authorities realised that to help Pulo would be detrimental to the fight against communists. So, they ceased helping Pulo. Malaysian troops in the frontline areas were instructed not to engage the Pulo fighters, instead they were to direct them back into Thai territory.

Those who say there were no bombings in Malaysia have a short memory. Sabah, in 1986, faced a spate of bombings, an intimidation tactic used to sow terror on the electorate. This was caused by the loss of the Usno and Berjaya parties (component parties of Barisan Nasional) to Joseph Pairin Kitingan's, predominantly Kadazan-based and Christian party, Parti Bersatu Sabah. There was a pathetic "coup" attempt conducted by Datu Mustapha and Harris Salleh, which failed miserably, as it was ruled unconstitutional.

State-wide elections were called for the second time, and it was during this period that a lot of bombs were set off, especially in Kota Kinabalu. The hand of the Moro separatists was seen in this as there were thousands of displaced Muslims from the southern Philippines islands in refugees camps in Sabah. And a lot of them were reported to have Malaysian blue identity cards.

This was reported by independent election observers who were monitoring the elections at the time. Disaster was averted by excellent crisis management by then deputy prime minister, Musa Hitam who ordered the deployment of a massive number of troops from the peninsular, in full battle order in a deliberate show of force, to deter those intent on intimidating the local electorate.

That the Malaysian government had ties with these extremist organisations is well known. It helped nurture these organisations which, unfortunately, have now become a liability.

Only when your 'rocks' are held over a fire, do you deny negating history. Unfortunately for our political masters, the world knows. This is one taint that will not come off hence Malaysia is implicated.

Reference sites:

http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/magazine/nations/0,8782,100233,00.html Link

http://www.jcpa.org/jl/jl436.htm Link

http://call.army.mil/fmso/FMSOPUBS/ISSUES/sword.htm Link

http://mnlf.net/Speech%20OIC_28th_ICFM%20Bamako%20June%202001.htm Link

http://army.mod.gov.my/darurat/ Link