In light of the five month long 2017 Battle of Marawi in the Philippines, any Indo-Pacific strategy must include an element of counter-terrorism and counter-terrorism planning has seen a sea of change, since 9-11, the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings, the 2003, 2004 and 2009 Jakarta Hotel/Embassy Bombings, the London 7/7 bomb attacks in 2005, the November 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, the incident in Bangkok on 14 February 2012, the 2013 Lahad Datu standoff in Sabah, the Martin Place Hostage incident in Sydney on 15 December 2014, the November 2015 Paris attacks, the lone wolf shootings in Christ Church on 15 March 2019; and the Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka on 21 April 2019. There is now a blurring of traditional notions of external and internal defence. These new range of threats now require a greater degree of intelligence and operational integration, that is able to sustain a level of higher alertness and operational responsiveness in moments of peace.
Let me share some background on countering JI and it’s implication on Malaysia-Singapore relations. Jemaah Islamiyah or JI, was formed in Malaysia by exiled members of a radical Islamic organisation that fled from Indonesia to Malaysia in the 1980s to avoid arrest. Under the leadership of JI founders, Abdullah Sungkar and Abu Bakar Bashir. Abdullah and Abu Bakar expanded their network of followers through recruitment in Singapore and Malaysia, and in 1993 they formally founded JI. In October 2001, JI planned bomb attack on specific targets in Singapore. The bombings were scheduled for execution in either December 2001/January 2002 or April/May 2002, and the targets included the United States (US) and Israeli embassies as well as the Australian and British high commissions. Singapore’s Internal Security Department (ISD) thwarted the plan when it arrested 13 JI members and two others in December 2001.
Credit to Dr M, he has lived a long life, but time is not on his side, so I wonder will his replacement be more or less like this " great " man of Malaysian politic's
Regards S
This Dec 2018 video shows Malaysia’s escalation via the unilateral deployment of non-military vessels off Tuas. This is provocative, as it is an attempt to new facts on the ground and do not set the right tone for Singapore-Malaysia relations, going forward. Talking about Dr M from his domestic politics angle, is like watching the evil Cersei Lannister in the Game of Thrones, without special effects. Not sure if he is a political opportunist (or just a plain Anti-Semite), and much less a ‘great man’ of Malaysian politics even from a Malaysian perspective - where even Malaysians have admitted that they tire of his antics.
- In a media conference in May 2019, Anwar Ibrahim the Prime Minister in waiting said he disagreed with ‘reformasi’ elements calling for a timeline for leadership change in Malaysia. A careful Anwar said the transition from Dr M was already decided before the May 2018 general elections.
- “It was signed and agreed upon by all Pakatan Haparan parties that I will take over from Dr Mahathir. That was in January 2018 well before my release from jail and well before the May elections,” said Anwar.
Compulsory national service in Singapore was introduced in August 1967 to deter hostile neighbours. About 70 tanks were bought in 1969 and when these AMX-13 tanks rolled out for National Day Parade, the region took notice. This year, we invited Dr M to attend our 2019 National Day to showcase the Hunter armoured fighting vehicle that is to be paired with the Leopard 2SG, for a Thunder Run, should the need arise. The urgency to build up its own armed forces stemmed from an acute sense of the island's vulnerability. The decades following 1969 have seen several brinkmanship episodes teetering on the brink of armed confrontations. Both country’s armed forces been placed on alert several times over the decades which largely stayed out of the limelight. Unfortunately for three such years the threats was so tangible it became public in 1988, 1991, 2001, and 2018/2019 over several issues. Since 2001, several more of such episodes never made daylight. Hence, the April 2019 thaw in Singapore-Malaysia relations (following Lee Hsien Loong’s meeting with Dr M in Putrajaya during the leaders’ retreat on 9 April 2019) has surprised many. This change in tune by the Malaysians comes at a difficult time for the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government. In any strategy for defending Singapore - we need to engage Malaysia and yet deter Malaysia as a difficult partner at the same time. A sophisticated understanding of security strategy needs to deal with the idea of realpolitik. In realpolitik, the key consideration is given to present circumstances and local factors, rather than moral or ethical premises.
Thankfully, Singapore's strategy of improving our military capabilities to respond across the spectrum have raised the stakes for any potential aggressor. In 2018 Singapore’s defence budget of SGD14.76 billion (US$11.2 billion) is almost double that of the Malaysian defense budget of US$5.68 billion, which is why they will seek to escalate via the grey zone. In light of Malaysian hostility dating back to 1968 and the 2001 JI plot, it is hard to understand why Dr M in 2010 would say something so irresponsible and to the effect that he denies 9-11 even happened and says it is a Western plot to attack Muslims. Dr M said that there is strong evidence that the Sept 11 attacks on the United States that killed nearly 3,000 could have been “staged” as an excuse to mount attacks on the Muslim world (Read more at
Mahathir: 9/11 was staged - Nation | The Star Online).
In Oct 2018, Dr M said although Malaysia is a member of the Five Power Defence Arrangement (FPDA), with the five countries deciding to work together, it does not mean that Malaysia has to follow their policies. "We can have our own (defence) policies," he said. The FPDA, signed in 1971, brings together Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom. Dr Mahathir also said that he would not like to have foreign countries having a military base in Malaysia. "We want to be free from any involvement of other countries," he said (Read more at
Dr M: Malaysia wants to be independent, does not want military alliances - Nation | The Star Online). Malaysian internal domestic issues and their indirect support for organisations designated as ‘terrorist groups’ by the US State Department, creates tension with their neighbours, namely, Thailand and Singapore. Further, in June 2006, Dr M said in a speech:
"...(the) MIGs are given, are sold to us without any condition, if you feel like bombing Singapore, for example, the Russians are not going to object.
Any Singaporeans here? Or ex-Singaporeans?"
Dr M continues in the later part of the June 2006 speech:
...but this great aircraft called F-18, which we bought from America, after buying it, after several months, I got to know that this aircraft cannot be used for any attacks against any country, even if this is not Singapore.
Beyond his normal anti-American rhetoric for his domestic audience, Malaysia’s active support of Palestine and Iran under his leadership, along with the desire of the Palestinian and Iranian proxies to attack Israeli targets in third countries will cause fiction with Singapore and Thailand, especially when the preparation work to make bombs is staged in Malaysia. This is an ongoing tension with an increasingly Islamic Malaysia, that most Westerners in Europe or America don’t understand.
(i) Two Iranian men have been convicted by a Thai court for their role in a bomb plot in 2012 that Thai officials believe was an attempt to assassinate Israeli diplomats in Bangkok. The 14 February 2012 incident, injured five people. Thai authorities said that the bombings were a botched attempt by Iranian nationals to assassinate Israeli diplomats.
(ii) The November 1986 visit by the Israeli President, Chaim Herzog resulted in violent anti-Singapore demonstrations in Malaysia for five weeks. Malaysian government protested by temporarily withdrawing the Malaysian high commissioner in Singapore to Kuala Lumpur. There were also two bomb attacks directed at the Israeli Embassy that coincided with the Malaysian protests about Chaim Herzog's visit to Singapore. On 17 March 1985 and 21 December 1986, bombs went off at Faber House, in Singapore. It is believed that the bombs were targeted at the Israeli embassy. As no one claimed responsibility and the case remained unsolved until 1991, when a Palestinian guerrilla named Fuad Hassin al-Shara confessed, after he was captured by the Israeli army, that he was behind the explosion and that his target had been the Israeli embassy.
Having Super Rugby games played up their may cost the franchises but the results in a external relations sense are huge.
