Osama - Who was he?

LONDON (Reuters) - Challenging the might of the "infidel" United States, Osama bin Laden masterminded the deadliest militant attacks in history and then built a global network of allies to wage a "holy war" intended to outlive him.

The man behind the suicide hijack attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and who U.S. officials said late on Sunday was dead, was the nemesis of former President George W. Bush, who pledged to take him "dead or alive" and whose two terms were dominated by a "war on terror" against his al Qaeda network.

Bin Laden also assailed Bush's successor, Barack Obama, dismissing a new beginning with Muslims he offered in a 2009 speech as sowing "seeds for hatred and revenge against America".

Widely assumed to be hiding in Pakistan -- whether in a mountain cave or a bustling city -- bin Laden was believed to be largely bereft of operational control, under threat from U.S. drone strikes and struggling with disenchantment among former supporters alienated by suicide attacks in Iraq in 2004-06.

But even as political and security pressures grew on him in 2009-2010, the Saudi-born militant appeared to hit upon a strategy of smaller, more easily-organised attacks, carried out by globally-scattered hubs of sympathisers and affiliate groups.

Al Qaeda sprouted new offshoots in Yemen, Iraq and North Africa and directed or inspired attacks from Bali to Britain to the United States, where a Nigerian Islamist made a botched attempt to down an airliner over Detroit on Dec 25, 2009.

While remaining the potent figurehead of al Qaeda, bin Laden turned its core leadership from an organisation that executed complex team-based attacks into a propaganda hub that cultivated affiliated groups to organise and strike on their own.

With his long grey beard and wistful expression, bin Laden became one of the most instantly recognisable people on the planet, his gaunt face staring out from propaganda videos and framed on a U.S. website offering a $25 million bounty.

Officials say U.S. authorities have recovered bin Laden's body, ending the largest manhunt in history involving thousands of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and tens of thousands of Pakistani soldiers in the rugged mountains along the border.

Whether reviled as a terrorist and mass murderer or hailed as the champion of oppressed Muslims fighting injustice and humiliation, bin Laden changed the course of history.

ASYMMETRIC WARFARE

The United States and its allies rewrote their security doctrines, struggling to adjust from Cold War-style confrontation between states to a new brand of transnational "asymmetric warfare" against small cells of Islamist militants.

Al Qaeda's weapons were not tanks, submarines and aircraft carriers but the everyday tools of globalisation and 21st century technology -- among them the Internet, which it eagerly exploited for propaganda, training and recruitment.

But, by his own account, not even bin Laden anticipated the full impact of using 19 suicide hijackers to turn passenger aircraft into guided missiles and slam them into buildings that symbolised U.S. financial and military power.

Nearly 3,000 people died when two planes struck New York's World Trade Center, a third hit the Pentagon in Washington and a fourth crashed in a field in rural Pennsylvania after passengers rushed the hijackers.

"Here is America struck by God Almighty in one of its vital organs," bin Laden said in a statement a month after the Sept. 11 attacks, urging Muslims to rise up and join a global battle between "the camp of the faithful and the camp of the infidels".

In video and audio messages over the next seven years, the al Qaeda leader goaded Washington and its allies. His diatribes lurched across a range of topics, from the war in Iraq to U.S. politics, the subprime mortgage crisis and even climate change.

A gap of nearly three years in his output of video messages revived speculation he might be gravely ill with a kidney problem or even have died, but bin Laden was back on screen in September 2007, telling Americans their country was vulnerable despite its economic and military power.

MILLIONAIRE FATHER

Born in Saudi Arabia in 1957, one of more than 50 children of millionaire businessman Mohamed bin Laden, he lost his father while still a boy -- killed in a plane crash, apparently due to an error by his American pilot.

Osama's first marriage, to a Syrian cousin, came at the age of 17, and he is reported to have at least 23 children from at least five wives. Part of a family that made its fortune in the oil-funded Saudi construction boom, bin Laden was a shy boy and an average student, who took a degree in civil engineering.

He went to Pakistan soon after the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and raised funds at home before making his way to the Afghan front lines and developing militant training camps.

According to some accounts, he helped form al Qaeda ("The Base") in the dying days of the Soviet occupation. A book by U.S. writer Steve Coll, "The Bin Ladens", suggested the death in 1988 of his extrovert half-brother Salem -- again in a plane crash -- was an important factor in Osama's radicalisation.

Bin Laden condemned the presence in Saudi Arabia of U.S. troops sent to eject Iraqi forces from Kuwait after the 1990 invasion, and remained convinced that the Muslim world was the victim of international terrorism engineered by America.

He called for a jihad against the United States, which had spent billions of dollars bankrolling the Afghan resistance in which he had fought.

TRAIL OF ATTACKS

Al Qaeda embarked on a trail of attacks, beginning with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that killed six and first raised the spectre of Islamist extremism spreading to the United States.

Bin Laden was the prime suspect in bombings of U.S. servicemen in Saudi Arabia in 1995 and 1996 as well as attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 that killed 224.

In October 2000, suicide bombers rammed into the USS Cole warship in Yemen, killing 17 sailors, and al Qaeda was blamed.

Disowned by his family and stripped of Saudi citizenship, bin Laden had moved first to Sudan in 1991 and later resurfaced in Afghanistan before the Taliban seized Kabul in 1996.

With his wealth, largesse and shared radical Muslim ideology, bin Laden soon eased his way into inner Taliban circles as they imposed their rigid interpretation of Islam.

From Afghanistan, bin Laden issued religious decrees against U.S. soldiers and ran training camps where militants were groomed for a global campaign of violence.

Recruits were drawn from Central, South and Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa and even Europe by their common hatred of the United States, Israel and moderate Muslim governments, as well as a desire for a more fundamentalist brand of Islam.

After the 1998 attacks on two of its African embassies, the United States fired dozens of cruise missiles at Afghanistan, targeting al Qaeda training camps. Bin Laden escaped unscathed.

The Taliban paid a heavy price for sheltering bin Laden and his fighters, suffering a humiliating defeat after a U.S.-led invasion in the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks.

ESCAPE FROM TORA BORA

Al Qaeda was badly weakened, with many fighters killed or captured. Bin Laden vanished -- some reports say U.S. bombs narrowly missed him in late 2001 as he and his forces slipped out of Afghanistan's Tora Bora mountains and into Pakistan.

But the start of the Iraq war in 2003 produced a fresh surge of recruits for al Qaeda due to opposition to the U.S. invasion within Muslim communities around the world, analysts say.

Apparently protected by the Afghan Taliban in their northwest Pakistani strongholds, bin Laden also built ties to an array of south Asian militant groups and backed a bloody revolt by the Pakistani Taliban against the Islamabad government.

Amid a reinvigorated al Qaeda propaganda push, operatives or sympathisers were blamed for attacks from Indonesia and Pakistan to Iraq, Turkey, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Spain, Britain and Somalia.

Tougher security in the West and killings of middle-rank Qaeda men helped weaken the group, and some followers noted critically that the last successful al Qaeda-linked strike in a Western country was the 2005 London bombings that killed 52.

But Western worries about radicalisation grew following a string of incidents involving U.S.-based radicals in 2009-10 including an attempt to bomb New York's Times Square.

In a 2006 audio message, bin Laden alluded to the U.S. hunt for him and stated his determination to avoid capture: "I swear not to die but a free man."

(Editing by William Maclean)
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/osama-9-11-author-defied-bush-obama-041124566.html

Osama's Death - As It Happens

Death of Bin Laden: Live report
Agence France-Presse, Updated: 03/05/2011

0100 GMT: Before we conclude AFP's Live Report on the killing of Al-Qaeda chief and 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden by US special forces in Pakistan, here is a recap of the main events:

0100 GMT: Before we conclude AFP's Live Report on the killing of Al-Qaeda chief and 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden by US special forces in Pakistan, here is a recap of the main events:

- A team of Navy SEALs, following up on detective work by the US intelligence services, helicoptered in to bin Laden's secret compound deep inside Pakistan overnight Sunday and shot him dead. The operation lasted less than 40 minutes.

- The news was announced to a stunned world by US President Barack Obama.

"Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al-Qaeda, and a terrorist who's responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women and children," Obama said in a late night White House address.

Obama said he had directed the covert attack against a heavily fortified compound in Abbottabad, near Islamabad, in the early hours of Monday morning, Pakistan-time, acting on a lead that emerged last August.

"A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability," Obama said. "After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body."

Speaking of those who had lost loved ones on 9/11 and in other Al-Qaeda attacks, Obama said: "Justice has been done."

- World leaders welcomed the news but warned that Al-Qaeda's willingness to wreak havoc was undimmed and that the possibility of reprisal attacks meant vigilance was more important than ever.

- Pakistan's main Taliban faction threatened to attack Pakistan and the United States, calling them "the enemies of Islam." Hours later hundreds took to the streets of Pakistan's western city of Quetta to pay homage to bin Laden, chanting death to America and setting fire to a US flag.

- Bin Laden's body was buried at sea after Islamic rites were performed. "We wanted to avoid a situation where it would become a shrine," a US official said.

- Governments of Western and moderate Muslim countries from Britain and France to Turkey and Indonesia have broadly welcomed the news of bin Laden's death, as a fitting end to a man blamed for inspiring the 9/11 and multiple other attacks.

- While lauding the killing, Western governments have urged their people to be vigilant because of the risk of reprisal attacks.

- And, while acknowledging the wrongs carried out by Al-Qaeda, the governments of moderate Muslim countries have urged the west to recognise that Al-Qaeda is not representative of Islam and to refrain from linking the two.

- Iran and Hamas have said that the death of bin Laden removes "the last excuse" for western forces to remain in the region and urged them to withdraw.

- Meanwhile, India and Afghanistan have pointed the finger at Pakistan over its role in, witting or not, in providing bin Laden with "sanctuary" in the country for up to ten years since 2001.

The main events, disclosures and reactions follow in real time below:

0026 GMT: Rudy Giuliani, who was New York's mayor at the traumatic time of the September 11 terror strikes, tells ABC television he felt a "sense that revenge" after hearing of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's death.

2337 GMT: The White House announces that US President Barack Obama is to visit Ground Zero on Thursday -- a bitter-sweet moment for Americans as they will no doubt rejoice at the killing of Al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden by US special forces in Pakistan but remember the nearly 3,000 people who died at his hands on September 11, 2001.

2254 GMT: Pakistan's US envoy promises a "full inquiry" into how Pakistani intelligence services failed to find bin Laden in a fortified compound just a few hours drive from Islamabad.

"Obviously bin Laden did have a support system, the issue is was that support system within the government and the state of Pakistan or within the society of Pakistan?" ambassador Husain Haqqani tells CNN.

"We all know that there are people in Pakistan who share the same belief system and other extremists.... So that is a fact that there are people who probably protected him," he says.

"We will do a full inquiry into finding out why our intelligence services were not able to track him earlier."

2230 GMT: Reports suggest it is only a matter of time before bin Laden's killing by crack US forces is made into a Hollywood film -- and one Oscar-winning director could be ahead of the game.

Kathryn Bigelow, who won an Academy Award for her 2008 film "The Hurt Locker," was already working on a movie about the Al-Qaeda leader's death -- which she could still re-think after Sunday's covert operation in Pakistan.

According to the Hollywood Reporter industry daily, Bigelow has already been discussing a project provisionally entitled "Kill Bin Laden," based on a previous botched attempt to get the Al Qaeda chief.

She and her screenwriting collaborator Mark Boal -- who worked with Bigelow on "The Hurt Locker" -- have been meeting with actors for the action thriller project, when Sunday's shock development occurred.

"But now that Bin Laden has been killed, what happens to the Kill Bin Laden project?" it said, adding that the original project was based "on a failed Black Ops mission by the US military to capture the Al-Qaeda leader."

The actual killing could help the project, although "we can't imagine the events surrounding Bin Laden's ultimate killing not being incorporated into the script in some fashion," it added.

2210 GMT: CIA chief Leon Panetta will brief lawmakers behind closed doors on Tuesday on the special forces raid that killed terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden, officials say.

2204 GMT: Analysts say that by killing instead of capturing bin Laden, the United States avoided a courtroom spectacle that could have given Al-Qaeda's chief a propaganda boost and created a political headache for President Barack Obama.

Although he was officially wanted dead or alive, leading Bin Laden away in handcuffs would have opened up a whole new set of legal and political dilemmas for Washington, fueling controversies about how to treat and try terror suspects.

"I think the White House is probably breathing a sigh of relief that he was actually killed rather than captured," says Andrew Exum, a retired Army officer and fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

"There was a real danger if he had been captured, the trial would have been a circus, the incarceration would have been a circus," Exum told AFP. "How we would have brought him to justice through the legal system would have been complicated."

2126 GMT: The UN Security Council hails the death of bin Laden, which it called a "critical development" in the fight against terrorism.

In a rare occasion where it "welcomes" the death of any person, the 15-nation council says the US military operation means bin Laden "will never again be able to perpetrate such acts of terrorism" as the September 11, 2001 attacks.

2105 GMT: The White House says it is weighing whether to release photographs of bin Laden's corpse amid calls from some key lawmakers to do so to prove the Al-Qaeda chief is truly dead.

"We are going to do everything we can to make sure that nobody has any basis to try to deny that we got Osama bin Laden," President Barack Obama's gruff counter-terrorism chief John Brennan tells reporters.

2025 GMT: The US Muslim community rejoices at the news. Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic relations (CAIR), says bin Laden "received justice yesterday" and stresses that the Al-Qaeda leader "never represented our community of Islam or the Muslims."

The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) greets bin Laden's death with "an immense sense of relief."

"We hope this is a turning point away from the dark period of the last decade, in which bin Laden symbolized the evil face of global terrorism," MPAC president Salam Al-Marayati says.

2000 GMT: The French government has stepped up security at its embassies and schools "in the appropriate countries" following the death of Osama bin Laden, Prime Minister Francois Fillon says.

Fillon said the government had given instructions to its embassies and schools to increase security.

"It is not the end of the war against terrorism and we have had a high threat level for a number of years," he says in interview on France 2 television.

1946 GMT: Top Muslim scholars say Islam is opposed to burials at sea like the one bin Laden received on Monday after being shot dead in a US operation in Pakistan.

The United States says bin Laden received Muslim religious rites but his body was "eased" into the Arabian Sea so that no one can build a shrine on his grave.

"If it is true that the body was thrown into the sea, then Islam is totally against that," says Mahmud Azab, an adviser to Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the grand imam of Al-Azhar, the top Sunni Muslim authority.

1922 GMT: Twitter says news of bin Laden's killing triggered an unprecedented wave of messages on the microblogging service.

The messaging frenzy reached 5,000 "tweets-per-second" at times during a surge that lasted more than four hours.

1915 GMT: The killing of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is a "victory for the forces of peace," but his death does not mean extremism has been defeated, German Chancellor Angela Merkel says.

"Last night the forces of peace achieved a victory. But this does not mean that international terrorism has been defeated yet. We must all remain vigilant," her statement says.

1900 GMT: President Barack Obama's spokesman Jay Carney wraps up a White House briefing featuring senior US officials. Here is a recap of the information they disclosed about the operation that killed bin Laden:

- Top US counter-terrorism official John Brennan says it his understanding that one of Osama bin Laden's four wives served as a human shield in an unsucessful bid to save his life.

- Brennan calls the Al-Qaeda terror network a "mortally wounded tiger" and warns that it remains dangerous.

- He refuses to rule out official Pakistani backing for bin Laden and says Islamabad was only told of the raid that killed the Al-Qaeda leader after US forces left Pakistani airspace.

"We are looking right now at how he was able to hold out there for so long and whether or not there was any type of support system within Pakistan that allowed him to stay there," Brennan says.

"It is inconceivable that bin Laden did not have a support system in the country to allow him to stay there for an extended period of time. I won't speculate on what type of support he would have had on an official basis, and we are talking to the Pakistanis right now."

Pakistan's powerful military intelligence services have been accused by US officials of covertly supporting Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked networks fighting American troops in Afghanistan.

1810 GMT: The latest reaction from a world leader comes from French President Nicolas Sarkozy who congratulates Obama on his determination in hunting down bin Laden and agrees both countries must fight on against Al-Qaeda.

1742 GMT: Arab and Muslim Americans celebrate the death of bin Laden as 'justice served", but express fears of possible retributions by Al-Qaeda and say the scars remain.

"We are very happy to hear the news that he has been eliminated," said Osama Siblani, publisher of the Arab American News, tells AFP in Dearborn, Michigan, home to one of the biggest concentrations of Arab Americans.

"This man is not a Muslim. This man has killed more Muslims than Americans - tens of thousands of people," Siblani says. "People are very excited that this happened because they want this sad chapter to be closed. They understand more than anyone else how much damage this man has done to the Muslim world and to the Arab world."

1705 GMT: Relatives and survivors of attacks carried out in the name of Al-Qaeda in Europe and Africa express joy and relief at Osama bin Laden's death, but some warn he may become a martyr who continues to inspire terrorists.

Pilar Manjon, whose 20-year-old son was one of 191 people killed in the bombings of four packed Madrid commuter trains on March 11, 2004 in Europe's worst Islamic terror attack, says Bin Laden's death "serves us little."

"A monster has died, but they have killed a martyr, they are going to transform him into a martyr," he says.

1658 GMT: Speaking for a second time on the momentous US raid in Pakistan, President Barack Obama hails a "good day for America" and says the world is a better place.

"I think we can all agree this is a good day for America. Our country has kept its commitment to see that justice is done," Obama says. "The world is safer, it is a better place because of the death of Osama bin Laden. Today, we are reminded that as a nation, there is nothing we can't do when we put our shoulders to the wheel, when we work together."

Obama was speaking in the East Room of the White House at a ceremony posthumously awarding the Medal of Honor, America's highest award for military valor, to two soldiers of the 1950-53 Korean War.

1637 GMT: US officials tell reporters that US forces administered Muslim religious rites for bin Laden aboard an aircraft carrier Monday before his body was "eased" into the Arabian Sea.

"Today religious rights were conducted for the deceased on the deck of the USS Carl-Vinson which is located in the North Arabian Sea," a senior defense official says.

"Traditional procedures for Islamic burial were followed. The deceased's body was washed and then placed in a white sheet. The body was placed in a weighted bag.

"A military officer read prepared religious remarks which were translated into Arabic by a native speaker. After the words were complete, the body was placed on a prepared flat-board... (and) eased into the sea."

The ceremony began at 0510 GMT and ended some 50 minutes later aboard the aircraft carrier, which is stationed off the coast of Pakistan to help US and coalition forces in Afghanistan.

1625 GMT: Hundreds take to the streets of Pakistan's southwestern city of Quetta to pay homage to bin Laden, chanting death to America and setting fire to a US flag, witnesses and organisers say.

1623 GMT: The US special forces that killed bin Laden took no prisoners in the raid on the Al-Qaeda leader's fortified compound in Pakistan, a senior defense official says.

1620 GMT: The United States says bin Laden's death could trigger retaliatory attacks in the United States and Europe, and against Western targets around the world.

"The Intelligence Community assesses the death of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden could result in retaliatory attacks in the Homeland and against US and Western interests overseas," warns the US Department of Homeland Security.

1605 GMT: Casting doubt on reports that US special forces had been on a "kill mission," a US official tells AFP on condition of anonymity that the Navy SEALs had been prepared to take him alive.

"He resisted during the firefight. As a result, the operators on the ground killed him. They were prepared in the event of his surrender to take him alive," the source says.

1550 GMT: In New York, UN leader Ban Ki-moon calls bin Laden's death a "watershed moment" in the fight against terrorism.

The UN secretary general says Al-Qaeda's crimes had touched nearly every continent of the world. "This is a day to remember the victims of terrorism here in the United States and everywhere in the world," Ban says.

1545 GMT: Former US vice president Dick Cheney congratulates President Barack Obama on the killing of the Al-Qaeda chief but warns: "Al-Qaeda remains a dangerous enemy."

"Though bin Laden is dead, the war goes on. We must remain vigilant, especially now," he says.

Praising the work of a president he has previously criticized, he declares: "Today, the message our forces have sent is clear -- if you attack the United States, we will find you and bring you to justice." As vice-president, Cheney was considered one of the most hardline hawks in the administration of former President George W. Bush, and has been a strident critic of Obama.

1535 GMT: DNA tests carried out by US officials on the body taken from the compound in Pakistan have confirmed it is that of bin Laden, a senior US official tells AFP.

"Bin Laden's DNA has been matched to several family members. And there is at least 99 pecent certainty that the DNA matches that of Osama Bin Laden," the official says.

Online supporters of the late Al-Qaeda leader have also confirmed their belief that he is dead.

1515 GMT: In Brussels, the EU's counter-terrorism coordinator has urged extra vigilance, saying that, while Al-Qaeda was "no longer in a position to organize another 9/11", in the short-term, bin Laden's death "might inspire some individuals to retaliate."

Gilles de Kerchove welcomes the operation by US special forces but urges vigilance in the coming weeks, where "reinforced security is necessary."

1512 GMT: Bin Laden's British step-grandson says he found out about the killing through a text message which read: "Your grand-dad is dead. Watch the news."

Bin Laden's fourth son Omar, 30, married British woman Jane Felix-Browne, 54, in 2007. Married several times before, she is now known as Zaina Alsabah-bin Laden

1415 GMT: In Washington, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urges the Taliban to abandon Al-Qaeda and participate in a peaceful political process.

"Our message to the Taliban remains the same, but today, it may have even greater resonance," Clinton tells reporters.

"You cannot wait us out. You cannot defeat us. But you can make the choice to abandon Al-Qaeda and participate in a peaceful political process," she says.

1412 GMT: A brief summary of the early morning US press reactions.

- The tabloid New York Post trumpeted: "We Got Him!" in its headline Monday, while the New York Daily News posted: "ROT IN HELL!" in oversized print, across a photo of bin Laden.

- The Boston Globe wrote on its editorial page that: "Bin Laden's name will go down on a very short list of global villains who presented a serious threat to the lives and liberties of Americans."

But it said that, if his death was a cause for celebration: "the movement he led will continue. Al-Qaeda is not defeated. Other extremist groups will step forward."

- The Los Angeles Times concurred. "Bin Laden's death will not end terrorism, do away with Al-Qaeda or conclude the global war that began after 9/11 because too many people in too many nations accept his delusion that the United States is implacably at odds with the values of Islam," the paper's editorial board wrote.

- The Detroit Free Press wrote that global terrorism's most iconic figure is now gone, but stressed that the Al-Qaeda leader's demise should not be viewed as a purely symbolic event.

"Bin Laden's death should mean a palpable disruption to the operation of Al-Qaeda, which was responsible for the attacks and remains one of the most pernicious global threats," the Free Press wrote.

1400 GMT: US officials say bin Laden's body was buried at sea "to avoid a situation where it would become a shrine." A spokesman for Al-Azhar, the top Sunni Muslim authority, says that Islam is opposed to burials at sea.

1355 GMT: Bin Laden was killed with a shot to head by US Navy SEALs, a US official tells AFP.

The SEALs, which stands for Sea, Air, Land, are elite troops used for some of the riskiest anti-terrorism missions, as well as behind-the-lines reconnaissance and unconventional warfare.

The SEAL team launched the assault from helicopters on the orders of CIA chief Leon Panetta, the official adds. "Responsibility for the raid is Leon Panetta's; it was executed by Navy SEALs."

1330 GMT: On of the recurring themes in the reaction to bin Laden's killing is the vigilance needed against reprisal attacks.

In Washington, CIA director Leon Panetta has added to this, warning that terrorist groups will "almost certainly" try to avenge his death, but saying the US would remain prepared.

"The terrorists almost certainly will attempt to avenge him, and we must -- and will -- remain vigilant and resolute," he says.

1325 GMT: In another moderate Muslim state, Malaysia's premier has spoken out, criticizing Al-Qaeda but warning that despite bin Laden's death, the late Al-Qaeda leader will likely remain a figurehead for jihadists.

"This does not mean that Al-Qaeda will be destroyed as they are capable of reorganising and he will remain an inspiration to such militants," Najib Razak tells reporters.

"I hope that people realise that terrorism is not how you change things for the better as it only gives a bad name to Islam. As an Islamic country, we must show that such actions are unacceptable," he says.

1255 GMT: Another interesting reaction from the moderate Muslim world. The government in Ankara voices "great satisfaction" at the killing of bin Laden, while renewing an appeal against linking terrorism and Islam.

"I welcomed his death with great satisfaction," President Abdullah Gul tells journalists at the Ankara airport ahead of a state visit to Austria.

1230 GMT: In Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, a radical Islamist group hails bin Laden as a "martyr".

"If it's true Osama bin Laden is dead, then he died a martyr. He fought for Islam and he fought for the lands colonised by America," Jemaah Ansharut Tauhid spokesman Son Hadi tells AFP.

"Al-Qaeda didn't die with him. Jihad will not be dampened just because he's dead because jihad is a command of the religion, not of individuals," he adds.

JAT was founded in 2008 by firebrand cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, who has long been known as the spiritual leader of the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) network.

1220 GMT: In Saudi Arabia, a country where bin Laden had many family links, officials are reported saying they hope his death will boost anti-terror efforts.

"Saudi Arabia hopes that the elimination of the leader of the terrorist Al-Qaeda organisation will be a step towards supporting international efforts aimed at combating terrorism and dismantling its cells," the state-run SPA news agency has quoted an unidentified official as saying.

1205 GMT: So in my 1110 entry, I promised more on that statement from Ismail Hamiya, the head of the Hamas government in Gaza. Here it is:

"We condemn any killing of a holy warrior or of a Muslim and Arab person and we ask God to bestow his mercy upon him," Haniya told journalists.

"If the news is true, then we consider it a continuation of the American policy based on oppression and bloodshed against Arabs and Muslims," he said, condemning bin Laden's killing "despite the difference in interpretations between us."

1155 GMT: And in Tehran, authorities are picking up the same theme as the Muslim Brotherhood, (see 1147 GMT) that the death of bin Laden means it is time for the US to leave.

Bin Laden's killing had removed "any excuse" for the United States and its allies to deploy forces in the Middle East, the Iranian government has said.

The "US and their allies have no more excuse to deploy forces in the Middle East under (the) pretext of fighting terrorism," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast was quoted as saying on the website of Iran's English-language Press TV channel.

He said Iran hopes this development will help to "establish peace and security in the region," adding that it is Iran's policy to "strongly condemn terrorism all over the world."

1147 GMT: In Cairo, a city at the centre of much change of late, an important point being made by Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.

"Islam is not bin Laden," Mahmud Ezzat, the Brotherhood's number two, told AFP.

"After September 11, there had been a lot of confusion. Terrorism was mixed up with Islam," he said. "In the coming phase, everyone will be looking to the West for just behaviour," he added.

This meant that, with bin Laden dead, the western forces should now pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan, he added.

1145 GMT: In London, where 52 people were killed in 2005 by a string of bombings by Al-Qaeda supporters, relatives of the victims have given a mixed reaction to the death of bin Laden, warning that Islamist extremists might now try to perpetrate further atrocities.

"There will be relief and comfort for victims of Al-Qaeda all around the world," John Falding, whose partner Anat Rosenberg died in the attacks, told the BBC. "But I think also it's a short-lived victory, in a way, because we now have to be on our guard."

"I think there will be reprisals -- if only so that people can demonstrate that the organisation... still has potency," he said. And Kim Beer, whose hairdresser son Philip, 22, was killed in the London attacks, said simply: "I am not pleased for anyone to lose their life."

1135 GMT: It's clear that a lot of the focus from world leaders now is going to be what exactly Pakistan knew, and when, about bin Laden's presence in the compound, and about the US raid.

And it is not just India saying this.

Afghan's President Hamid Karzai is also making the point that bin Laden appeared to have found refuge in Pakistan - not Afghanistan.

"Again and again, for years and every day, we have said that the war on terror is not in Afghan villages, not in Afghan houses of the poor and oppressed," he has told a meeting of tribal elders. The war is in Pakistan, he said.

And Karzai appealed to the Taliban now to stop fighting: "Talib, come to your country and stop the fighting and leave the weapon that the foreigners have put on your shoulders," he said.

1130 GMT: As Gilani was talking, Pakistan's main Taliban faction on Monday threatened to attack Pakistani government and US interests following the killing.

"If he has been martyred, we will avenge his death and launch attacks against American and Pakistani governments and their security forces," spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.

The Taliban spokesman said the militia had not itself managed to confirm bin Laden's death, which was announced by US President Barack Obama. "If he has become a martyr, it is a great victory for us because martyrdom is the aim of all of us," he added.

1125 GMT: In Islamabad, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has told AFP in an interview that the killing of bin Laden was a "great victory" but admitted he was not well informed about the details of the operation.

"We will not allow our soil to be used against any other country for terrorism and therefore I think it's a great victory, it's a success and I congratulate the success of this operation," he said.

Asked about the extent to which Pakistan cooperated in the operation he said: "I don't know the details, I don't know minute details, but in short we have intelligence cooperation". More on this interview later.

1115 GMT: Back to India first, where Home Minister P. Chidambaram said India noted with "grave concern" that bin Laden had been killed by US special forces at a fortified compound not far from the Pakistani capital Islamabad.

"This fact underlines our concern that terrorists belonging to different organisations find sanctuary in Pakistan," Chidambaram said.

India has long accused Pakistan of providing shelter and support to militant groups planning attacks on Indian soil and has repeatedly pushed the global community -- the United States in particular -- to censure Pakistan accordingly.

In Washington, Obama said the operation to kill bin Laden was the result of cooperation with Islamabad, but Chidamabaram chose to focus on India's belief that perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai attacks continue to be sheltered in Pakistan. Many questions remain for Pakistan, clearly.

1110 GMT: Among the voices criticising the killing, Ismail Haniya, the head of the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, has condemned the strike against bin Laden.

More on his comments in a minute.

1107 GMT: A member of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Osama bin Laden's network in Yemen, said he had confirmed the news of the killing, calling it a "catastrophe."

"This news has been a catastrophe for us. At first we did not believe it, but we got in touch with our brothers in Pakistan who have confirmed it," a member reached by telephone told an AFP correspondent in Yemen.

Yemen is bin Laden's ancestral homeland. Saudi and Yemeni Al-Qaeda branches in January 2009 announced they had merged to form the Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

1105 GMT: An interesting detail in the reaction from Moscow is an appeal for greater cooperation with the US on anti-terrorism operations.

"Only a joint and united fight against global terrorism can achieve substantial results. Russia is ready to step up this type of cooperation," the Kremlin statement said.

Of course, Russia itself has seen significant conflict over many years with Muslim separatists in the Caucasus regions, and labels its opponents "terrorists".

1100 GMT: A poignant reaction from Kenya, where more than 200 people - most of them Kenyans - died in a bombing in 1998 thought to have been inspired by bin Laden.

"The killing of Osama has taken place nearly 13 years after the terrorist bombings in Nairobi that led to the death of over 200 people," Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki said in a statement.

"His killing is an act of justice to those Kenyans who lost their lives and the many more who suffered injuries," he said.

1050 GMT: And in the country where the raid took place, the government of pakistan hailed the strike as providing a blow against terrorism.

"Osama bin Laden's death illustrates the resolve of the international community, including Pakistan, to fight and eliminate terrorism," the foreign ministry said.

"It constitutes a major setback to terrorist organisations around the world."

The ministry made no comment on what the strike revealed about the Pakistani role. (See India's comments in my first post at 1000 GMT)

1045 GMT: Russia, often a critic of US military actions overseas, has praised the US strike against bin laden.

"The Kremlin welcomes the serious success the United States achieved in the war against international terrorism," President Medvedev's press service told Russian news agencies.

1035 GMT: Among the reactions of more interested parties, there's this from Afghan President Hamid Karzai:

"The American forces yesterday killed Osama Bin Laden and made him pay for his deeds," Karzai told a gathering of tribal elders at his palace in Kabul.

"He was made to pay for his actions," added the president of the country that for several years hosted the Al-Qaeda leader.

1025 GMT: According to the US monitoring group SITE, an online forum used for official messages from Al-Qaeda has been deleting posts from supporters enquiring about bin Laden's death, pending confirmation by "mujahadeen (holy fighter) sources."

Messages posted on the forum included vague threats that "America will repeat the same if the news is true," and said his supporters "will continue moving in the footsteps of Osama".

1015 GMT: In Australia, Prime Minister Julia Gillard warned that the death of bin Laden had hurt but not finished the organisation he led.

"Whilst Al-Qaeda has been hurt today, Al-Qaeda is not finished. Our war against terrorism must continue," she said.

1000 GMT: Reaction is coming in from world capitals to the news. I'll try to run through a few of them here:

President Obama's predecessor George W. Bush congratulated the man who succeeded him in office and called the death of bin Laden a "victory for America".

In London, British Prime Minister David Cameron said the news would bring "great relief to people across the world".

Israel and India joined the congratulated, with India suggesting however that the fact that bin Laden had been hiding in Pakistan showed the country was in fact a "sanctuary" for his organisation.

In leading European capitals, the operation brought praise. Italy called it a "victory of good over evil", Germany "good news for all free-thinking men" and France a "victory for all democracies."

But the countries all also warned about the need for vigilance in the face of possible retaliatory attacks by bin Laden supporters.


Channel News Asia - 3/5/2011

SINGAPORE: Singapore has heightened all security measures at its borders and checkpoints in light of Osama bin Laden’s death.

In a statement, the Ministry of Home Affairs said this was to guard against the entry of terrorist operatives as well as regional elements affiliated with Al—Qaeda.

It added that security presence and alert level have also been increased within Singapore at key establishments, and that the situation would be kept under review.

The ministry said Osama’s killing by the US could be expected to draw retaliatory attacks from jihadist terrorists from or close to the Al—Qaeda Core and other jihadist terrorists who are keen to avenge his death.

To this end, the possibility that regional groups affiliated to Al—Qaeda, like Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), might carry out retaliatory attacks against US assets in this region, including those in Singapore could not be discounted.

Such groups might also act against allies of the US, and countries seen to be close to the US.

In view of the recent evidence that JI—related terrorist elements in Indonesia and this region pose an active and persistent threat — including the finding of large bombs in Indonesia on Good Friday and grenades in Kuala Lumpur a couple of weeks ago — the ministry said it would be prudent for Singapore to be extra vigilant to guard against this threat.

It added that other governments have also announced tighter security measures.

Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng said: "Our checkpoints are a key area where we must have stepped up vigilance and extra security. On the lookout, and particularly taking a bit of time, Singaporeans and other travellers may be slightly inconvenienced as a result of that."

— CNA/de/al

Singapore: A nation of paradoxes?

Singapore: A nation of paradoxes?

By Alicia Wong – January 17th, 2011Email Facebook Twitter Print
Has the government neglected nation-building while developing Singapore as a global city? Is Singapore full of paradoxes? What more can be done to help the vulnerable in society?

These questions and more were raised during a discussion at the Institute of Policy Studies’ annual Singapore Perspectives conference on Monday. Twelve panelists from various industries shared their views on three major topics – a “Global City”, a “Caring Community” and the “Singapore Spirit”.

While Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng mapped out the government’s plans to develop Singapore as both a global city and endearing home in his keynote address, subsequent discussions raised doubts on the possibility of doing so.

One key concern was the “cost” of nation building, with the focus on growing Singapore into a global city.

Writer and independent scholar Derek da Cunha said the apparent focus on developing a global city had “the unintended side effect of causing some fissures to the national fabric”.

For instance, bringing in more immigrants to create a cosmopolitan “buzz” put pressure on transport, housing and employment, he said.

Citing the sharp increase in casino exclusion orders and news reports of crime in the casinos, Dr de Cunda wondered if the drive to turn the Republic into the “Monaco of the East” would further entrench the underclass and lead to a widening social divide.

Chairman for the Workers’ Party and Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Sylvia Lim also highlighted the “palpable sense of loss of identity among Singaporeans due to the pace of change over the last few years”.

Pointing out the contradiction in the terms “Global City” and “Endearing Home”, Ms Lim said the change in the population mix adversely impacted citizens’ sense of belonging and security.

In 1990, 86 per cent of the population was local but in 2010, the figure fell to 63 per cent, she cited.

She said, “Singaporeans must always feel empowered at home”.

The government should retreat from various spheres in life and allow for others to take charge, such as in sports associations, and Singapore should celebrate political diversity, she suggested.

“We must have the confidence that as Singaporeans we will be taken care of,” she stressed, calling for a “closer look at the social safety nets”.

Some felt more should be done for the vulnerable groups, for example, by tackling the widening income gap.

Member of Parliament Denise Phua, who spoke about the needs of the low-income and the disabled, young and elderly in Singapore, called on the government to “play a leading role” so that all citizens have equal access to goods that are their “basic social entitlement”.

Everyone else can also do their part by doing more for others, she stressed.

However, chief executive of the Singapore Indian Development Association T Raja Segar pointed out, a recent survey by the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre found Singaporeans more willing to donate money than their time.

In true adversity, such as the Brisbane floods, would Singaporeans step up to help others, he asked. Those who responded said, they believed Singaporeans would.

In addressing the Singapore spirit, some speakers described it as one that looks ahead to what Singapore can be, rather than one that relied on the past. While it brings vitality and openness to society, it could also mean Singaporeans lack refinement and a stable identity, said associate editor at The Straits Times Janadas Devan.

But to director at the Theatre Training & Research Programme, T Sasitharan, “to be at once at home and always at the edge; to feel rooted and at the same time to feel constantly blown away by the wind – these contradictions are what makes us who we are.”

Mr Sasitharan, pointing to the increasing diverse demographics in Singapore, said, “Unless we find space in our hearts to include those who are different… we would no longer feel at home.”

Experts explain S’pore’s declining birth rate

Experts explain S’pore’s declining birth rate
By Kai Fong – January 14th, 2011

Experts believe the high cost of living is the main deterrent to couples having children. (Photo: AFP Images).

They are only getting married in June, but already the couple have decided against having any children.

Speaking to The Straits Times (ST), civil servant Jean Heng, 30, said she chooses her independence and freedom above having a baby.

She said, “Life in Singapore is very stressful. Work takes up a huge amount of time and I have no energy to take care of kids. If I want to have kids, I would want to devote enough resources in terms of time and money.”

Ms Heng and her teacher-fiance are just one of the many couples in Singapore who have decided to strike babies off their marriage checklist, citing common reasons such as financial and time constraints.

Experts ST spoke to are not surprised by the findings of the Census of Population 2010, which saw more childless married women and more one-child families. They cited the high cost of living as a main reason for couples shying away from raising children.

Associate Professor Tan Khye Chong, a statistics lecturer from Nanyang Technological University, said both husband and wife have to work to pay off the property loan. “It’s more difficult to start a family with both working and some may put off having a family until they are older.”

Professor Gavin Jones, a demographer at the Sociology department at the National University of Singapore, said the “perceived high financial and opportunity cost” deters couples.

“Once they have children, it closes off options seen as desirable; for example, free time, holidays and a career,” he said, adding that parents are also under pressure to produce “quality children” to do well in school and get ahead in life.

“There is pressure to devote a lot of effort to parenting, so it means giving them things like tuition. It’s a highly labour-intensive process to raise kids here,” he said.

Experts expect the low numbers to translate into far-reaching implications for the country, reported ST.

Singapore Management University’s Assistant Professor of Asian Studies Hoon Chang Yau said the increase in immigrants needed to make up the Republic’s workforce will “lead to a more complex society with more people from around the world settling here”.

“While it can be quite exciting, there will also be anxiety over the change in the Singapore identity,” he added. Policies would also need to be tweaked to cope with an already ageing population, which means people would have to work even longer.

The recent Census of Population 2010 found a six percentage point increase in the proportion of childless married women aged 30 to 39 and a near-3 percentage point increase in women in their late 40s.

Higher-educated women are having fewer children, compared to their less-educated counterparts, the Census found.

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India - Land of Many Cell Phones and Fewer Toilets

MUMBAI, India (AP) -- The Mumbai slum of Rafiq Nagar has no clean water for its shacks made of ripped tarp and bamboo. No garbage pickup along the rocky, pocked earth that serves as a road. No power except from haphazard cables strung overhead illegally.

And not a single toilet or latrine for its 10,000 people.

Yet nearly every destitute family in the slum has a cell phone. Some have three.

When President Barack Obama visits India Nov. 6, he will find a country of startlingly uneven development and perplexing disparities, where more people have cell phones than access to a toilet, according to the United Nations.

It is a country buoyed by a vibrant business world of call centers and software developers, but hamstrung by a bloated, corrupt government that has failed to deliver the barest of services.

Its estimated growth rate of 8.5 percent a year is among the highest in the world, but its roads are crumbling.

It offers cheap, world-class medical care to Western tourists at private hospitals, yet has some of the worst child mortality and maternal death rates outside sub-Saharan Africa.

And while tens of millions have benefited from India's rise, many more remain mired in some of the worst poverty in the world.

Businessman Mukesh Ambani, the world's fourth-richest person, is just finishing off a new $1 billion skyscraper-house in Mumbai with 27 floors and three helipads, touted as the most expensive home on earth. Yet farmers still live in shacks of mud and cow dung.

The cell phone frenzy bridges all worlds. Cell phones are sold amid the Calvin Klein and Clinique stores under the soaring atriums of India's new malls, and in the crowded markets of its working-class neighborhoods. Bare shops in the slums sell pre-paid cards for as little as 20 cents next to packets of chewing tobacco, while street hawkers peddle car chargers at traffic lights.

The spartan Beecham's in New Delhi's Connaught Place, one of the country's seemingly ubiquitous mobile phone dealers, is overrun with lunchtime customers of all classes looking for everything from a 35,000 rupee ($790) Blackberry Torch to a basic 1,150 rupee ($26) Nokia.

Store manager Sanjeev Malhotra adds to a decades-old -- and still unfulfilled -- Hindi campaign slogan promising food, clothing and shelter. "Roti, kapda, makaan" and "mobile," he riffs, laughing. "Basic needs."

There were more than 670 million cell phone connections in India by the end of August, a number that has been growing by close to 20 million a month, according to government figures.

Yet U.N. figures show that only 366 million Indians have access to a private toilet or latrine, leaving 665 million to defecate in the open.

"At least tap water and sewage disposal -- how can we talk about any development without these two fundamental things? How can we talk about development without health and education?" says Anita Patil-Deshmukhl, executive director of PUKAR, an organization that conducts research and outreach in the slums of Mumbai.

India's leaders say they are sympathetic to the problem.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, an economist credited with unleashing India's private sector by loosening government regulation, talks about growth that benefits the masses of poor people as well as a burgeoning middle class of about 300 million. He describes a roaring Maoist insurgency in the east -- which feeds in large part on the poor's discontent -- as the country's biggest internal security threat.

Sonia Gandhi, chief of the ruling Congress Party, has pushed laws guaranteeing a right to food and education, as well as a gargantuan rural jobs program for nearly 100 million people. But as many as 800 million Indians still live on less than $2 a day, even as Mumbai's stock exchange sits near record highs.

Many fear the situation is unsustainable.

"Everybody understands the threat. Everybody recognizes that there is a gap, that this could be the thing that trips up this country," says Anand Mahindra, vice chairman and managing director of the Mahindra & Mahindra manufacturing company.

Private companies have tried to fill that gap, and Tata sells a 749 rupee ($16) water purifier for the poor. Mafias provide water and electricity to slumdwellers at a cost far higher than what wealthy Indians pay for basic services.

"For every little thing, we have to pay," says Nusrat Khan, a 35-year-old maid and single parent who raises her four children on less than 3,000 rupees ($67) a month and blames the government for her lack of access to water and a toilet.

The government is spending $350 million a year to build toilets in rural areas. Bindeshwar Pathak, the founder of the Sulabh Sanitation and Social Reform Movement, estimates the country needs about 120 million more latrines -- likely the largest sanitation project in world history.

"Those in power, only they can change the situation," says Pathak, who claims to have helped build a million low-cost latrines across India over the past 40 years. "India can achieve this -- if it desires."

In the slums of Mumbai, home to more than half the city's population of 14 million, the yearning for toilets is so great that enterprising residents have built makeshift outhouses on their own.

In Annabhau Sathe Nagar, a raised latrine of corrugated tin empties into a river of sewage that children splash in and adults wade across. The slum in east Mumbai has about 50,000 residents and a single toilet building, with 10 pay toilets for men and eight for women -- two of which are broken.

With the wait for those toilets up to an hour even at 5 a.m., and the two-rupee (4-cent) fee too expensive for many, most people either use a field or wait to use the toilets at work, says Santosh Thorat, 32, a community organizer. Nearly 60 percent have developed piles from regularly waiting to defecate, he says.

Conditions are far worse in Rafiq Nagar, a crowded, 15-year-old slum on the lip of a 110-acre garbage dump.

Most of the slumdwellers are ragpickers who sort through heaps of trash for scraps of plastic, glass, metal, even bones, anything they can sell to recyclers for cash. A pungent brew of ripe garbage and sewage blows through the trash-strewn streets, as choking smoke from wood fires rolls out the doorways of windowless huts. Children, half clothed in rags, play hopscotch next to a mysterious gray liquid that has gathered in stagnant puddles weeks after the last rainfall.

Just beside the shacks, men and women defecate in separate areas behind rolling hills of green foliage that have sprung up over the garbage. Children run through those hills, flying kites.

Khatija Sheikh, 20, splurges to use a pay toilet in another neighborhood 10 minutes away, but is never sure what condition it will be in.

"Sometimes it's clean, sometimes it's dirty. It's totally dependent on the owner's mood," says Sheikh, whose two young children use the street. Her home is less than five feet from an elevated outhouse built by a neighbor that drops sewage next to her walls.

Since there are no water pipes or wells here, residents are forced to rely on the water mafia for water for cooking, washing clothes, bathing and drinking. The neighborhood is rife with skin infections, tuberculosis and other ailments.

A large blue barrel outside a home is filled with murky brown water, tiny white worms and an aluminum drinking cup. To fill up two jerry cans costs between 40 ($.90) and 50 ($1.10) rupees a day, about one-third of the average family's earnings here.

"If the government would give us water, we would pay that money to the government," said Suresh Pache, 41, a motorized rickshaw driver.

Instead, it has issued demolition notices throughout the slum, which sits illegally on government land. Pache, whose home was razed 10 times, jokes that the destruction is the only government service he can count on.

Yet the world of technology has embraced the slumdwellers with its cheap cell phones and cut-rate calling plans that charge a sliver of a penny a minute. Pache bought his first phone for 1,400 rupees ($31) four months ago. Since then, his wife, a ragpicker, found two other broken models as she scoured the garbage dump, and he paid to have them repaired.

He speaks with fluency about the different plans offered by Tata, Reliance and Idea that cost him a total of 300 rupees ($6.70) a month. Now, when his rickshaw breaks down, he can alert his wife with a call. She uses her phone to tell the recyclers where she is in the dump so they can drive out to her, saving her the time and effort of dragging her bag of scraps to them.

Mohan Singh, a 58-year-old bicycle repairman, says his son uses their 2,000 rupee ($45) Orpat phone to play music and talk to relatives. Thorat, the community organizer, shows photographs of his neighborhood and videos of a pre-school he started on his Nokia cameraphone, while his second phone rings in his pocket. Sushila Paten, who teaches at the pre-school, organizes a phone chain with her Samsung to instantly mobilize hundreds of people in the streets when violent thugs show up demanding "rent" from the squatters.

In fact, the spread of cell phones may end up bringing toilets.

R. Gopalakrishnan, executive director of Tata Sons, one of India's most revered companies, says the rising aspirations of the poor, buttressed by their growing access to communications and information, will put tremendous pressure on the government to start delivering.

People already are starting to challenge local officials who for generations answered to no one, he says.

"I think there are very, very dramatic changes happening," he says.

‘I don’t know what I’m defending anymore’

‘I don’t know what I’m defending anymore’
By Ewen Boey – October 30th, 2010
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392yahoo_ntu

Young Singaporeans like Lim Zi Rui are becoming increasingly disillusioned and they’re not afraid to let it show.

The 23-year-old final-year aerospace engineering student was among a 1,000-strong crowd who attended a Ministerial Forum organised on Friday by Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Students’ Union.

Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong was the guest-of-honour.

During a dialogue session after SM Goh’s main address, Lim stood up and asked if the Minister was aware that many young people no longer felt a sense of ownership in Singapore.

“When I was younger, I was very proud of being a Singaporean,” said Lim as reported in The Straits Times.

“But that was about five, ten years ago. Five years later, with all the changes in policies and the influx of foreign talent, I really don’t know what I’m defending any more.”

He said this was a view that many of the men he served with during National Service also held.

“I feel that there is a dilution of the Singapore spirit in youth… We don’t really feel comfortable in our country any more,” he said.

Mr Goh replied, “‘This is one early sign of danger… If this is happening, it is very serious.” He went on to ask Mr Lim why he felt disconnected.

Mr Lim told SM Goh, ”‘I’m still serving as an officer and I definitely would love to defend Singapore.”

But he said the key difference between him and his foreign friends was, “I tell them, this is my country. I can’t just leave here whenever I want to. You can come and play and work here, but I have to stay here.”

SM Goh responded by defending the government’s policy of welcoming foreigners.

“You want to have a home. Who’s going to build your HDB flat?” said the Minister.

Lim replied that due to the inability to afford the sky-high public housing prices, his brother had to call off his engagement.

“My brother got engaged, but lost his engagement because he could not afford an HDB flat,” said Lim, who went on to state that his question was not about “integrating foreigners”.

“My question was, how are we going to help the younger generation feel a sense of belonging to Singapore? I don’t think it’s about integrating foreigners,” said Lim.

“This is your country,” SM Goh replied. “What do you want me to do to make you feel you belong?”

“For my part, don’t worry about me,” Mr Lim said. “I will definitely do something, if I can, for Singapore. But I can tell you honestly that the sentiment on the ground is a bit different.”

“If this is happening, it is very serious,” said SM Goh.

“If the majority feel they don’t belong here, then we have a fundamental problem. Then I would ask myself: What am I doing here? Why should I be working for people who don’t feel they belong over here?” asked SM Goh.

Earlier on during the dialogue session, the Minister made the point that the next General Elections, due to be held by February 2012, would be a “watershed” for the future of Singapore from which a “fourth Prime Minister and a core team of younger ministers will emerge”.

SM Goh also challenged the young undergrads in his audience to “make a difference to Singapore” by joining local politics.

Fate of historic train station stirs nostalgia in Singapore

On Tuesday 12 October 2010, 10:37 SGT

No more glittering shopping malls, chic restaurants and expensive condos, please!

The fate of a shabby but historic Malaysia-owned train station tucked away in an obscure corner of ultramodern Singapore's port and business district is stirring nostalgia for a bygone age.

The Tanjong Pagar station, built during British colonial rule over the two countries, is to be vacated by July 2011 under a recent deal to settle a longstanding land dispute between the two neighbours.

The Singapore terminal is to be relocated to Woodlands, a northern suburb across a narrow strip of water from Malaysia. A causeway that includes the rail tracks connects the two countries.

With its faded facade and four imposing life-size marble sculptures atop the main entrance, the station is an anomaly in a landscape dominated by office towers, hotels and high-rise apartment blocks.

The four sculptures represent agriculture, commerce, transport and industry -- key symbols of economic prosperity during the heyday of British rule until the late 1950s.

Time seems to stand still in the cavernous but sparsely furnished passenger hall of the 78-year-old terminal, which relies on exhaust fans and breezes blowing in from outside to provide relief from the stifling tropical heat.

Lunchtime is always busy -- not from passenger traffic but from customers of Malaysian delights offered by food stalls such as the greasy Ramly Burger, featuring a beef or chicken patty wrapped in a fried egg.

There are no digital boards showing departure and arrival times of the service, which stops at sleepy towns until reaching Kuala Lumpur seven hours later even though the Malaysian capital is just 367 kilometers (228 miles) away.

Instead, a blue board with the service schedule is mounted on one side of the hall and any changes to the timing have to be made manually by station staff.

The future of the station as well as other Malaysian railway land to be handed back to Singapore will be part of an ongoing review by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on land use in the next 40 to 50 years.

"The land parcels will be put to optimal use," the Ministry of National Development said.

In a country where land is scarce and many colonial buildings have been refitted for commercial use, a group of Singaporeans has started a petition to preserve the station and its rich history for future generations.

"I want them to know that once upon a time, this station connected Singapore to the rest of the world... before Internet made it easy to Google for anything," Carolyn Seet, who started the petition in July, told AFP.

"Old buildings remind you of your roots," said Seet, an IT specialist who also created a public Facebook account called "Turn Tanjong Pagar Station into a Museum."

On Facebook, Seet wrote: "Not another restaurant. Not another condo. We need some culture and history. Think Musee D'Orsay. Not just about making money!"

The Musee D'Orsay is a museum in Paris housed in a former railway station.

Seet says she hopes to gather at least 1,000 signatures by the end of the year before handing the petition to the office of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

The petition contains a few proposals including turning the station into a museum to showcase the roles of various means of transport in Singapore's rapid rise from a sleepy tropical port to a world trading hub.

As of the first week of October, the petition had gathered just 360 signatures.

Seet says her campaign is driven partly by the demolition of several history-rich buildings to make way for the country's urban development, and she worries her two young boys will have no inkling of Singapore's past from the urban architecture.

"To me, this is the last bastion," Seet said of the station, which holds plenty of fond childhood memories since it was there that she embarked on her first train ride to Malaysia.

Ho Weng Hin, an architectural conservation specialist who is co-authoring a book on the building's history, said the British made a strategic decision to have the railway building next to the port.

"The station was built next to the port for a good reason," said Ho, a partner of architectural restoration and research consultancy Studio Lapis.

"It is from here that valuable Malayan commodities such as tin and rubber were transported to the rest of the world. The railway line expanded British clout in Malaya," he said.

Malaysia, formerly known as Malaya, was under British rule until the late 1950s. Singapore joined the Federation of Malaysia briefly in 1963 before it gained statehood in 1965.

Ho said the station could be described as Singapore's version of New York City's famous Grand Central Terminal building.

"Part of what makes a city great is you have the different chapters of its history still functioning and still accessible to the people," he said, adding that historic train stations in Milan and Tokyo have been preserved and kept accessible to the general public.

Lai Chee Kien, an assistant professor with the National University of Singapore's department of architecture, also feels the station's colourful past makes it worth conserving.

"There are not many places left in Singapore that can evoke memories of the pre-independence period," he said.

"Before airplanes became prominent, the railway was the main source of goods and passengers.

"Together with Keppel Harbour, the railway station is an important building that connected people to a larger history involving Singapore and Malaysia."

For 63-year-old Masudul Hasan, who has operated a drinks stall at the station for 26 years, there is little he can do except wait for the day when he will have to lower the shutters for good.

"I will miss the place, it has been so many years," said Masudul, who sleeps for just four hours and spends the rest of his time at the stall.