Sri Lankan military shows 'body of Tamil Tiger leader Prabhakaran' on TV

(The body of Charles Anthony, the son and heir apparent of Liberation Tigers leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran)

Sri Lankan military shows 'body of Tamil Tiger leader Prabhakaran' on TV
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6317354.ece

Sri Lankan state TV showed grisly pictures today of what it claimed was the dead body of Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of the Tamil Tigers.

Prabhakaran was wearing his signature combat fatigues and a dog tag bearing the serial number "001". His head was partially covered by a cloth but a gaping wound was clearly visible. A laminated Tamil Tiger ID card was also on display.

Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, a military spokesman, told The Times that the body was recovered earlier today and the authorities were "100 per cent positive" that it was Prabhakaran.
Troops found Prabhakaran's bullet-ridden body on the bank of the Nanthikadal lagoon, the Ministry of Defence said on its website.

Brigadier Nanayakkara said that Prabhakaran, who was the prime architect of a 26-year civil war that claimed more than 70,000 lives, had been shot, probably in fierce fighting yesterday morning.

The announcement contradicted previous official claims that Prabhakaran's badly burnt body had been discovered yesterday.

Military officials had said yesterday that Prabhakaran had been killed after he was ambushed by commandos as he made a desperate attempt to break through government lines in an ambulance.

Prabhakaran, who had sworn never to be taken alive, was badly burnt when his vehicle burst into flames, officials had said. No pictures were released of his body and DNA tests were ordered to prove his identity.

Brigadier Nanayakkara dismissed claims made by the Tigers' chief of international relations this morning that Prabhakaran was alive and safe and would "continue to lead the quest for dignity and freedom for the Tamil people".

"Our beloved leader is alive and safe. He will continue to lead the quest for dignity and freedom for the Tamil people," the Tigers' chief of international relations, Selvarasa Pathmanathan, said in a statement carried on the pro-rebel Tamilnet website.

Mr Pathmanathan gave no indication of the whereabouts of Prabhakaran.

The Tigers' claim came as Mahinda Rajapakse, the Sri Lankan President, announced the "complete defeat" of the rebels and vowed to press ahead with a "homegrown political solution" to end ethnic divisions between the majority Sinhalese population and the minority Tamils.

Addressing Parliament, Mr Rajapakse said that the Government now controlled “every inch” of the island state and had rid the country of terrorism after crushing the rebels on Monday.

"We have demonstrated that we can solve our problems and we will come up with a homegrown political solution," he said.

Sri Lanka would seek international aid to rebuild the devastated former Tiger strongholds in the north and east of the country, he added. He also delivered a rebuke to Britain and US, which are resented by some Sri Lankans for calling for a ceasefire just days before the Tigers were defeated.

"What we need from the international community is not advice, but material help to carry out our reconstruction effort," the President said.

Government forces said yesterday that they had found 300 bodies strewn over the 100-square-metre stretch of land where the last Tiger troops had hunkered down. Tamilnet said that the military had carried out a “determined massacre”.

Reporters were not allowed near the conflict zone to witness the aftermath.

In the north of Sri Lanka, fears for the wellbeing of an estimated 300,000 civilians displaced by the conflict escalated after the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross – the only aid organisations allowed to operate in the conflict zone – were denied access to a large number of them on Saturday.

“It appears that the Government does not want us to see the condition of these people or witness the procedures it uses to screen them for possible escaped rebels,” a senior international aid worker said.

The internment camps, which are surrounded in barbed wire and have been dubbed “welfare villages” by the Government, had already triggered concerns among humanitarian organisations.

Prabhakaran built the Tigers into one of the deadliest terrorist organisations in the world.

He pioneered the use of suicide bombers, plotted the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, the Indian Prime Minister, in 1991 and at one time commanded about a third of Sri Lanka as he fought to build a separate Tamil state in the north of the country.

Even Sri Lankans critical of the Government admitted yesterday that most of the country is delighted with the defeat of the rebels. There were urgent calls, however, for a political solution to avoid new terror strikes by radicalised Tamils angry at the treatment of their community.

“The majority of Sri Lankans feel a sense of relief and joy at the Army’s victory,” said Lal Wickrematunge, the managing editor of the Sunday Leader, a newspaper founded by his brother Lasantha, who was assassinated in January after he criticised the Government.

Mr Wickrematunge added: “The thing is, nobody is taking into account the attitude of the oppressed minorities.”

Sri Lanka’s minority Tamils were favoured under British rule, but in the 1950s a Sinhalese-dominated government began to pass laws that benefitted the majority Sinhalese population.

“Much depends on the path the Sri Lankan Government takes from here,” a Western diplomat said. “We hope it will not engage in ethic, nationalistic triumphalism. The Tamils must be included in the political process.”

In Britain, ten people were arrested for public order offences outside the Houses of Parliament in central London early today after protests by Tamil exiles turned violent. Twenty police officers were injured as they broke up the demonstration.

Shops were shuttered and businesses run by Britain's large Tamil population, estimated at around 300,000, were closed yesterday as the news sank in. Many expressed disbelief that the civil war waged by the Tamil Tiger movement since the early 1980s had come to an end, and said it would resume.

May 19, 2009

Guerrilla tactics - how the Tamil Tigers were beaten in an 'unwinnable' war

It was supposed to be the unwinnable war. For almost three decades, Sri Lanka was held up as an example of how a small democratic state with a conventional army could never defeat a well-funded and disciplined guerrilla organisation.

It has proved that to be untrue. But how Sri Lanka won its victory — and whether it should be condoned or copied — is the subject of an international debate that touches on the War on Terror, the UN and the new geopolitical world order.

Opinion is divided about whether Sri Lanka will win the peace by offering its 2.4 million ethnic Tamils an acceptable devolution package.

Whichever side one takes though, Sri Lanka offers valuable lessons for any country facing an insurgency — such as Pakistan and Afghanistan.

From a military perspective the campaign of the past two years has been such a success that it is being studied by counter-insurgency specialists around the world.

Key to that was the acquisition of fighter jets and radar from China and aerial surveillance drones from Israel that allowed the air force to target the Tigers accurately.

The army used guerrilla tactics — moving in small groups through the jungle rather than on main roads — while the Tigers fought a conventional campaign to defend their territory.

Military intelligence split the Tigers by persuading Colonel Karuna, their second in command, to defect in 2004, allowing the army to drive the rebels out of eastern Sri Lanka in 2007. The navy played a crucial role by attacking the Tigers’ supply ships, with help from India and the US.

In the international arena Sri Lanka outmanoeuvred the Tamil Tigers by taking advantage of counter-terrorism legislation introduced after the attacks on the US on September 11, 2001.

It lobbied hard to have the Tigers banned as terrorists in the US, EU, Canada and Australia, forcing those countries to crack down on their financing and arms procurement.

More recently it has cultivated ties with China, Iran and other non-Western powers to counterbalance Western criticism of its conduct of the war.

It also secured tacit approval for its campaign from the ruling Congress party in India, whose leader Sonia Gandhi was keen to avenge the assassination of her husband, Rajiv, by the Tigers in 1991.

The result has been paralysis of the UN system, with Western governments unable to put Sri Lanka on the formal agenda of the Security Council.

Britain, the EU and the UN rights chief have called for war crimes investigations and Washington is stalling an application by Sri Lanka for a $1.9 billion (£1.2 billion) emergency loan from the International Monetary Fund.

War crimes will be hard to prove and the IMF will probably grant the loan because withholding funds would be counter-productive now that the war is over.

It is on the domestic political front, however, that Sri Lanka’s strategy has been most questionable. Mahinda Rajapaksa promised to take a hard line against the Tigers and won the presidential election in 2005 in large part because Velupillai Prabakharan, their leader, forced northeastern Tamils to boycott the poll.

Since then the President has joined forces with a Sinhalese nationalist party to stir patriotic fervour that has stifled all political opposition by branding critics as terrorists.

The domestic media have been silenced by the Government’s failure to investigate attacks on journalists, of whom 14 have been killed since 2006.

Access to the front line has been minimal. That has guaranteed support for the war within the Sinhalese majority and a steady flow of recruits for the professional army, which has not released its casualty figures for months.

It also means that there has been no scrutiny of military tactics, which appear to have included shelling civilian areas, and no public debate about a long-term political solution.

Consequently, the army has alienated many moderate Tamils through its disregard for civilian casualties and callous treatment of the 200,000 Tamils in internment camps.

The Government must work fast to rebuild its democratic institutions and reassure those Tamils that they can benefit more from peace than war. It needs vastly to improve conditions in the camps and keep its promise to resettle 80 per cent of the inmates by the end of this year.

It also needs to present a devolution package granting enough autonomy to satisfy Tamils not just in Sri Lanka but also in the large and wealthy diaspora that funded the Tigers.

If it succeeds it may yet add weight to the idea that terrorists such as the Tigers can be beaten only by curbing civil liberties, keeping the media away and using brute force — just as Russia did in Chechnya.

If it fails, however, it will have squandered the sympathy of the democratic world — not to mention billions of pounds — and created a new generation of Tigers.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6315015.ece

The enigma of Prabhakaran - 18 May 2009 BBC

The enigma of Prabhakaran

By Alastair Lawson
BBC News


Mr Prabhakaran has been part of the Tamil protest movement for decades
From an increasingly small area in the north-east of Sri Lanka, Velupillai Prabhakaran heads the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) or Tamil Tigers.

He has a reputation as a fearless and ruthless guerrilla leader and under his leadership, the Tamil Tigers have become a highly-disciplined and highly-motivated guerrilla force.

But in recent months his forces have fought a desperate rearguard action as their dream of a separate homeland in the north and east of the country looks less and less likely.

Yet for much of the past three decades his organisation showed no sign of being defeated militarily by the Sri Lankan army, even though it was vastly outnumbered.

But recent advances by the army - including its capture of rebel-held eastern parts of the island in 2007 and the towns of Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu in early 2009 - have meant that Mr Prabhakaran is now under more military pressure than ever before. Kilinochchi was the rebels' administrative and political centre and Mullaitivu - a port town - was arguably its most heavily defended area.

The rebels' territorial grip was further weakened before Mullaitivu fell when the army re-captured the strategically important Elephant Pass, a land strip that links the northern Jaffna peninsula to the rest of the country.

Cyanide capsule

There is now a strong possibility that the rebels will be reduced to a guerrilla group, with no land under their control for the first time in many years. All that remains in their hands is a tiny patch of the north-east near Mullaitivu and that too is in imminent danger of falling.



Mr Prabhakaran (centre) has a vice-like hold over his organisation
Mr Prabhakaran is reputed to wear a cyanide capsule around his neck, to be swallowed in the event of his capture.

He expects the same dedication from his troops, many of whom the Sri Lankan government says are either women or children.

He is also a man whom critics say is much more at ease fighting in the battlefield than he is sitting around a negotiating table.

They argue that any peace process is doomed to failure with Mr Prabhakaran as leader of the Tigers and that even after a Norwegian brokered ceasefire was signed in 2002, the rebels used the lull in fighting to re-group and re-arm.

Mr Prabhakaran's supporters argue that he fully embraced efforts to secure peace, pointing out that in 2002 he began de-commissioning arms, allowed a land route to be opened to the rebels' northern stronghold in the Jaffna peninsula and even gave support to his movement dropping its demand for a separate state.

From 2002 to 2008 - when the government announced that it was formally withdrawing from the ceasefire - Mr Prabhakaran suffered a number of setbacks.

In 2004 a renegade Tamil Tiger commander, known as Karuna, led a split in the rebel movement in the east - a huge breach of its much hailed discipline and unity.

Two years later the Tigers' chief ideologue, Anton Balasingham, died of cancer in London. His demise was described as an "irreplaceable loss" to the movement.

And in November 2007 the senior Tamil Tiger leader, SP Thamilselvan, was killed in a bombing raid by the military. He was the "public face" of the Tigers and the most senior rebel to be killed by troops in years. Mr Prabhakaran himself described his death as an "unparalleled loss".



The death of SP Thamilselvan was an "unparalleled loss"
Mr Prabhakaran inspires conflicting emotions in Sri Lanka - which reflect the divisions between the Sinhala and Tamil communities.

To his followers, he is a freedom fighter struggling for Tamil emancipation from Sinhala oppression. To his adversaries he is a megalomaniac with a brutal disregard for human life.

The Tamil Tiger leader seldom gives interviews to journalists, who are in any case restricted by the government from going into areas controlled by his forces.

However each November he does give a speech on what the Tamil Tigers refer to as Heroes' Day - to commemorate dead rebel fighters - and the message over the years has remained pretty much the same.

"The uncompromising stance of Sinhala chauvinism has left us with no other option but an independent state for the people of Tamil Eelam," he said in November 2006.

His movements between his various jungle hideouts are the subject of great secrecy, and he is reported to have narrowly avoided assassination or capture on numerous occasions. Following his latest military setbacks there has been much speculation as to whether he has fled to another country or is in hiding in the Sri Lankan jungle.

Commentators suggest that any escape to India would be dangerous because he is wanted there for the murder of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991. But so too would a decision to remain underground in the Sri Lankan jungle, given the army's increasingly strong presence on the ground.

Accused of killings

Born on 26 November 1954, in the northern coastal town of Velvettithurai, on the Jaffna peninsula, Velupillai Prabhakaran is the youngest of four children.

He was an average student, shy and bookish. He said in one of his rare interviews that he was fascinated by Napoleon and Alexander the Great, devouring books on their lives.

He was also influenced by the lives of two Indian leaders, Subhash Chandra Bose and Bhagat Singh, both of whom were involved in the armed struggle for independence from Britain.

Angered as a teenager by what he saw as discrimination against Tamils in politics, employment and education, he began attending political meetings and practising martial arts.

He soon became heavily involved in the Tamil protest movement, and in 1975 was accused of being responsible for the murder of the mayor of Jaffna.



The rebel leader has suffered numerous setbacks over the years
That assassination was one of the first killings carried out by the burgeoning Tamil nationalist movement.

He was instrumental in the foundation of the Tamil Tigers around that time.

The killing of the mayor is not the only high-profile murder for which Mr Prabhakaran is the prime suspect.

India says Rajiv Gandhi was killed by a suicide bomber who was acting on orders from Mr Prabhakaran.

It is alleged that the rebel leader wanted to avenge Mr Gandhi's decision as prime minister in the mid-1980s to deploy Indian peacekeeping troops in Sri Lanka.

Despite the conflicting views surrounding Mr Prabhakaran, there is one point on which both the Sinhala and Tamil communities agree: he is the dominating force in the rebel movement, and until or unless he is either caught or captured, the Tamil Tigers will remain one of the world's most dangerous rebel groups

Prabhakaran: The Life and Death of a Tiger - Time

Prabhakaran: The Life and Death of a Tiger
By JYOTI THOTTAM / NEW DELHI Tuesday, May. 19, 2009

Velupillai Prabhakaran, leader of the Tamil Tigers, stands in front of an eternal

Velupillai Prabhakaran, 54, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (the LTTE) who was declared killed by the Sri Lankan government on May 18, had decades to think about how his end would come. It could have come from the cyanide capsule that he — like many Tiger fighters — wore around his neck, a pledge to commit suicide in case of capture by the Sri Lankan Army. He had been fighting a war for an independent homeland, or eelam, for the island's Tamil minority since 1983, and the Army pursued him throughout the jungles of the north and east for decades. In 2002, during a press conference near the beginning of a four-year-long ceasefire, Prabhakaran revealed that he had asked his aides to kill him if capture was near and he was unable to kill himself.


The end, when it came, happened in an armored vehicle in which Prabhakaran was trying to flee with his trusted lieutenants, according to the Sri Lankan government. The group came under fire, and Prabhakaran was one of 18 top LTTE leaders killed in the early morning ambush, the government said. On May 19, the Army released images to Sri Lankan television of Prabhakaran's body, still in its uniform, in which his face is clearly visible. For the generation of Sri Lankans who have grown up knowing only a nation in conflict, the image of Prabhakaran has loomed over their lives, either as enemy or savior. More than 70,000 people have been killed in 26 years of war in Sri Lanka, and there are those who will not believe the elusive figure is gone until they see proof. (Read "Behind Colombo's P.R. Battle Against the Tamil Tigers.")

The rest of the world might never understand the violence Prabhakaran stood for, but its imprint on Sri Lanka is wide and deep. At the height of his power, just before the 2002 ceasefire, Prabhakaran was the unquestioned leader of a de facto government that controlled more than 15,000 square kilometers of territory in the north and east of Sri Lanka and had its own system of taxes, roads and courts. By the final weeks of conflict, he was believed to be using thousands of Tamil civilians as human shields against the advance of the Sri Lankan military. At the time of his death, 250 core LTTE members stood with him. Few will mourn the end of a man who ruthlessly ordered the murder of his opponents, demanded absolute fealty and pioneered the use of suicide bombings.

Prabhakaran was the youngest of four children, born in a middle class family in Valvettiturai, a fishing town on the northern coast of Sri Lanka's Jaffna peninsula. Very little is known about his early life. "My childhood was spent in the small circle of a lonely, quiet house," he said in a 1994 interview. He described a deep-seated anger against the military and remembered an 8th grade teacher who exhorted students to take up arms against them. "It is he who impressed on me the need for armed struggle and persuaded me to put my trust in it," he said. Jaffna was then considered the heart of Tamil culture and literature in Sri Lanka, and also the center of the growing Tamil nationalist movement, calling for greater autonomy for Tamil-majority areas to protest what they considered discrimination against Tamils by Sri Lanka's Sinhala-speaking majority. The most radical groups wanted complete independence and struck out at symbols of the Sri Lankan state, including fellow Tamils whom they considered collaborators.

Help from 2 Johor friends - May 10 2009

Help from 2 Johor friends
They sheltered Mas Selamat for a year but others shunned him
By Hazlin Hassan, Malaysia Correspondent

Kuala Lumpur - A desperate Mas Selamat Kastari could find only two friends willing to help him hide after he escaped from the Whitley Road Detention Centre last year and swam the 1km across to a Johor beach.
Abdul Matin Anol Rahmat and Johar Hassan came to the Singaporean terrorist's aid, police sources said. All others shunned him.

The two men gave him shelter for free for more than a year in a secluded kampung house in Skudai. For that, they were arrested on April 1, the same day police nabbed Mas Selamat while he was sound asleep.

Clad only in his shorts and T-shirt, the leader of the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terror network in Singapore barely put up a fight during the dawn raid.

Mas Selamat is now believed to be in police custody in Johor.

'He has not been transported anywhere yet,' a source familiar with the operation told The Sunday Times.

Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein and national police chief Musa Hassan have refused to reveal where he is being held.

It is unclear how Mas Selamat contacted his two friends after he reportedly swam across the Johor Strait using an 'improvised flotation device'.

The official Bernama news agency said that Abdul Matin lived in Ulu Tiram and Johar lived in a village in Skudai.

The Sunday Times understands that Mas Selamat's two friends, who are said to be ordinary JI members, had helped hide him.

'He has no relatives in Johor but many friends,' the source told The Sunday Times. 'He probably went to Johor because he thought a few of them were still there and would help him. But most were not willing to help him as they knew that the authorities were searching for him.'

Only those two had helped him, and they have known Mas Selamat for some 10 years through JI. It remains unclear if the two were just helping him or if all three were plotting a fresh terror attack.

Prime Minister Najib Razak on Friday told reporters that Mas Selamat had been planning attacks on Singapore. He did not elaborate.

Some experts say Mas Selamat's success at remaining in hiding for more than a year shows that the JI network remains in Johor. But the source said that all JI members in Johor have 'either been neutralised or caught already'.

There are no new cells in Johor or anywhere else in Malaysia, he said, adding that Mas Selamat was therefore unlikely to have been able to seek support and conduct research to organise new terror attacks.

'JI is not a threat in Malaysia or Singapore,' he said.

But the JI remains a threat in Indonesia, the Philippines and southern Thailand, where the authorities can close one cell and have a new one crop up immediately, he added.

A source told Bernama: 'During the time he was hiding in Johor, Mas Selamat only made contact with the two men. This goes to show he has neither support nor the sympathy.'

The Malaysian government has declined to reveal details of how he was arrested, but reports say that the 48-year-old man had swum more than 1km to Stulang, Johor, a stretch of beach near Singapore's Senoko power station.

Mas Selamat, who is trained in firearms and explosives and is described as 'highly dangerous', had allegedly lived as a simple villager in the state.

The Star newspaper published a photograph which it said was taken just hours after his arrest. It shows that he had grown a thick beard and thicker moustache, but otherwise looked similar to photographs of him that had been distributed everywhere in Singapore when he escaped last year.

The Chinese-language daily Lianhe Wanbao reported that Mas Selamat had allegedly been seen selling burgers at a cart in Johor Baru at night until 4am.

The report said there was speculation that besides being a means to earn income, it served as camouflage to help keep him in touch with contacts and to assess the situation on the ground.

It also reported that when Mas Selamat was nabbed, another man and a woman who were in the same house in Skudai were also arrested. It is unclear what their relationship to Mas Selamat is. The authorities here have not announced the arrest of a woman in connection with his case.

Skudai is a sprawling working- class town, 25km north-west of Johor Baru and near Senai Airport, that many Singaporeans frequent for its Giant hypermarket.

About 15km away, across the North-South Highway, is Ulu Tiram, another small town but one that is notorious as a breeding ground for JI terrorists.

A now-defunct religious school which groomed JI agents is located in the area, a place familiar to Mas Selamat. As the leader of the Singapore branch of the JI, he spent some time there in the 1990s.

Bernama said that while in Johor, Mas Selamat had planned to flee either to the southern Philippines or to Indonesia but did not go ahead with it, thinking that he was safe in Johor.

As it turned out, he made the wrong decision.

hazlinh@sph.com.sg

Inside the mind of Mas Selamat and his ilk - ST 10 May

Inside the mind of Mas Selamat and his ilk
Driven by misguided sentiments, he likely sees himself as a hero fighting an 'evil system': Experts
By Zakir Hussain

Neither his years in detention nor life on the run quenched his zeal for his cause.

When Mas Selamat Kastari was arrested in Johor on April 1, he was still plotting attacks on Singapore, a mark of the hardcore extremism that characterised him.

In Jemaah Islamiah (JI) circles, the regional leader of the terrorist group was admired for being ambitious and ruthless.

Friends of his family, however, thought less of him.

They were upset that the former bus mechanic, who joined JI around 1990, was often out of a job. As a result, his wife and five children often went hungry.

He spent time in Indonesian prisons before being handed over to the Singapore authorities in 2006.

He was detained for two years in the Whitley Road Detention Centre prior to his escape in February last year.

Unlike other JI detainees, he was not put on a programme of religious rehabilitation because the Ministry of Home Affairs judged that he was not ready.

It was an indication of how firmly he clung to his extremist views.

Ustaz Ali Haji Mohamed, the co-chairman of the Religious Rehabilitation Group (RRG), said a radical like Mas Selamat would have been so deeply indoctrinated that his grievances would have crystallised into beliefs that he would be willing to pursue, regardless of the cost.

Such extremists also believe that all other Muslims are wrong, and that only those who walk their path of violence are true believers.

The feeling of hatred against non-Muslims and Muslims who work against him is also deeply embedded, said Ustaz Ali.

Singapore aims to rehabilitate as many of its security detainees as possible.

To date, two-thirds of the 60 detainees arrested here since 2001 for terrorist activities have been released after rehabilitation.

So far, none has strayed back. Some have returned to society for four years or more.

However, another 20 remain in detention, including 'hardcore' JI members who have not renounced their views.

As Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew noted last year in a book by the RRG marking its fifth anniversary: 'You cannot keep the detainees locked up. That is not the solution. The solution is to put them right, and so they become normal Muslims again and their families lead normal lives.'

He noted that some 26 of those arrested in the first two sweeps in 2001 and 2002 have been released.

'But six have still not been convinced. They have stuck to their guns, especially the leader of the JI group (Ibrahim Maidin). They are just standing firm.

'They are convinced that they are right. Nothing seems to be able to change their beliefs. So, we have to live with this problem, and they just have to stay detained,' he added.

Given the difficulties of rehabilitating a hardcore terrorist like Mas Selamat, it is likely that he will be detained indefinitely.

His conversion to extremism took place around 1990, after he heard Indonesian cleric Abu Jibril preach in Johor.

In 1992, he joined the Singapore JI cell. Over the next five years, he visited Afghanistan twice.

In 1999, he was hand-picked by JI operations chief Hambali - now in United States custody in Guantanamo Bay - to lead the Singapore cell.

Two years later, Mas Selamat fled Singapore when the Government began cracking down on JI members for plotting attacks against Western embassies and military personnel here.

Dr Kumar Ramakrishna, who heads the Centre of Excellence for National Security at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, explains why the current mechanisms for rehabilitation are unlikely to work in Mas Selamat's case.

'In my own view, he would likely and sadly consider the Muslim scholars who attempt to counsel him as sold-out hypocrites who should be totally ignored,' he said.

However, if a JI leader who is more senior were to renounce violence, there is a chance that Mas Selamat may be willing to listen.

'If Hambali actually does turn, this would be show-stopping and make him, potentially, a most influential person for both individual rehabilitation and community counter-radicalisation efforts in South-east Asia,' Dr Kumar said.

Several years ago, when Mas Selamat was in prison in Indonesia, reformed JI leader Nasir Abas tried to meet him to persuade him to mend his ways.

But Mas Selamat refused to meet Mr Nasir.

Dr Kumar has not had a chance to view any documents on the deep background of Mas Selamat and finds it hard to pin down his path to radicalisation.

But based on what is known about the JI leader, he said it was possible that Mas Selamat was driven by fear that the group he most closely identifies with, in this case Muslims, is under threat.

Psychological studies show that when individuals perceive, rightly or wrongly, that their group is under threat, they tend to strike back, often resulting in ethnic cleansing, war or terrorism, Dr Kumar said.

He said Mas Selamat seems to define himself primarily as a Muslim first and last, and likely hates Singapore because he perceives 'that his Muslim 'group tent' is under existential threat both in Singapore and globally'.

'He may have experienced some form of personal setback or setbacks in his life which prompted him to seek greater refuge in religion, and this is where at some point he perceived some form of religious marginalisation that rendered him vulnerable to JI ideology,' he added.

Dr Kumar explained that the JI ideology, with its strong us-

versus-them world view, would have reinforced Mas Selamat's desire to right perceived wrongs and 'religiously legitimised the hate he feels toward Singapore and its close international friends, particularly the US and Israel'.

'It is important to realise that in his own mind, Mas Selamat thinks he is a hero standing up against the 'evil system' that 'oppresses' Muslims in Singapore and worldwide,' he said.

RRG member Ustaz Mohd Ibrahim Mohd Kassim notes that such misdirected sentiments are not held by the majority of Muslim Singaporeans.

And many of the JI detainees who held this view have come around to see where they have been misled by JI teachings.

But Mas Selamat has not been moved.

Said Dr Kumar: 'He probably really is convinced he is one of the 'good guys' whose 'eyes have been opened' to the actual plight of his Muslim brothers. This is why he seems so motivated.'

zakirh@sph.com.sg

For Muslims in S'pore, a sense of relief - ST 10 May

For Muslims in S'pore, a sense of relief
Mas Selamat's capture affirms community's stand against violence
By Zakir Hussain

The re-arrest of Mas Selamat Kastari in Johor, where he sought shelter while on the run, vindicates the Singapore Muslim community's stand that they have no sympathy for those who plot violence in the name of Islam, several leaders of the community said yesterday.
After the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) regional leader escaped from the Whitley Road Detention Centre in February last year, there was suspicion among some that he might be harboured by sympathisers here.

Mr Abdul Mutalif Hashim, chairman of the Darussalam Mosque in Clementi, said that for as long as he was on the run, some suspicion lingered over Muslims here.

'I feel very relieved now, as that assumption did not help race relations,' he said.

Mr Masagos Zulkifli, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Home Affairs and Education, stressed that the Malay-Muslim community was just as alarmed as other Singaporeans were over the escape.

'Now that Mas Selamat has been caught, a sense of relief is as much felt by the Malay community as by the community at large.

'This reflects the fact that the Malay-Muslim community is mature and rational and understands that whatever threatens the nation is also a threat to them, and therefore, we are as single-minded about how we need to address and look at the threat of terrorism,' he said.

Mr Abdul Mutalif, who also chairs the Choa Chu Kang Inter-Racial and Religious Confidence Circle, agreed: 'It was clear for all to see that Mas Selamat was someone who was capable of causing damage and chaos in our country.'

He was plotting attacks on Singapore when the Malaysian Special Branch arrested him in Johor on April 1.

That he fled Singapore almost immediately after his escape from Whitley was 'a clear indication that Muslims here did not harbour Mas Selamat, or condone his terrorist activities', Mr Abdul Halim Kader, chief executive of community group Taman Bacaan, said yesterday.

Online comments posted after the terrorist's escape last year, suggesting that he would surely get help from Malay-Muslims here, prompted Mr Abdul Halim to mobilise about 100 volunteers to distribute 10,000 'wanted' posters. He did so to send a message that Mas Selamat was an enemy of the people, regardless of race or religion.

Mr Abdul Halim also heads the Inter-Agency Aftercare Group, which looks after the welfare of JI detainees' families. He said it will continue to provide social and counselling help to Mas Selamat's wife and children here.

Veteran mosque leader Rhazaly Noentil urged all Singaporeans to continue interacting across religious lines to build trust, and not let the terror threat affect racial harmony in Singapore.

Mr Allaudin Mohamed, the chairman of the Khalid Mosque in Geylang, said: 'Our community understands the agenda of the extremists is destructive, and sees the larger need to live in harmony as Singaporeans.'

Possible Singapores, beyond Lee Kuan Yew

Possible Singapores, beyond Lee Kuan Yew

Channel NewsAsia - Tuesday, April 21SINGAPORE: A People’s Action Party (PAP) split by internal schisms. Future leaders bereft of the "huge political legitimacy" that could be gained from endorsement by the man with unmatched moral and historical authority. These are some of the leadership fates that could befall a post—Lee Kuan Yew Singapore, as hotelier Ho Kwon Ping sees it.


And such "imponderable" scenarios could help explain why a "system of elders" is now taking shape in the political landscape.

"Perhaps it is to restrain factionalism, arbitrate disagreements, groom and assess future leaders, that the positions of senior minister and minister mentor have been institutionalised," said Mr Ho, who feels the PAP’s "extraordinary cohesion" over five decades has owed much to "the forceful personality of Lee Kuan Yew".

Mr Ho, who is also MediaCorp chairman, was speaking on Monday alongside Professor Kishore Mahbubani at a seminar organised by Nanyang Technological University’s Asian Journalism Fellowship programme. The topic? "Singapore Beyond Lee Kuan Yew: Institutionalising the Singapore Way".

Of this future, Prof Mahbubani, who Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, would not rule out a "significant reversal" of Mr Lee’s legacy, or the rise of a stronger Opposition usurping the one dominant party system — though he gave each scenario only a "one—sixth probability".

While a "smooth and seamless transition" was a two—thirds likelihood, Prof Mahbubani harked back to the words of former Deputy Prime Minister Goh Keng Swee, after the PAP’s long monopoly of parliament was broken in 1981. "As (Dr Goh) has wisely told us, failure happens when we fail to consider the possibility of failure."

So, for instance in the unlikely event of a strong opposition arising, would Mr Lee’s legacy be weakened? In fact, the "sharper political debates" arising could make Singaporeans more aware of the "precious political legacy they have enjoyed", said Prof Mahbabuni.

On the other hand, as has happened in South Korea and Taiwan, it could also lead to the old legacies being quickly lost and forgotten by the new generation. "I am frequently shocked when I meet younger Singaporeans who have never heard of Dr Goh," he said.

Both speakers were not alone in expressing uncertainty over how Singapore’s future, sans Mr Lee, would play out. During the Q&A session, which was off—the—record, the audience raised concerns such as how the country would be deprived of its most astute and influential critic — and whether Mr Lee’s legacy, or indeed Singapore, could unravel.

While Mr Lee’s retirement would "create a huge political vacuum", Prof Mahbubani believes Singapore has "done a lot" to protect his legacy, such as instilling a deep culture of meritocracy and incorruptibility.

And Mr Ho had no doubts Singaporeans could "muddle their way through", even if the PAP’s leadership renewal "fails to deliver what it has done for the past 50 years".

Mr Lee’s greatest legacy, he said, "is that the Singapore which he so passionately shaped will outlive not only him, but even his own party, should that ever come to pass".

The reason: In his single most critical imperative — nation building — Mr Lee has largely succeeded, said Mr Ho, who has found young Singaporeans to own a strong sense of involvement and ownership in the country, contrary to stereotype.

"Equally contrary to some people’s wishful thinking, there is not likely to be dramatic, broad—brush social or political liberalisation," said Mr Ho. "This is not a pent up society waiting for the demise of the strongman in order to overturn highly unpopular laws."

Rather, the government has the support of the politically—vital heartland in its pragmatic, incremental approach to change, even as it responds to tomorrow’s generation, he said.


— TODAY/so