http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/...n/2264120.html
Everybody should play their part and be vigilant against people who may seek to harm us.
Terrorism threat in Southeast Asia a ‘serious, difficult’ issue: PM Lee
SINGAPORE: The terrorism threat in Southeast Asia is a serious and difficult problem, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, in an interview published on Monday (Nov 16).
In the interview with The Australian newspaper that was held before the multiple terror attacks in Paris, Mr Lee said that it is not just “random individuals” who are being radicalised and going to Syria to join ISIS.
Mr Lee pointed to Malaysia as an example, noting that there were repeated incidents of people from the army going to Syria. He said Malaysia had just arrested two commandos on top of nearly a dozen military personnel earlier.
He also made reference to Indonesia, saying that there are parts of the country which are remote from centres of government. “If (the radicals) set up a little base camp there and call that ISIS in Southeast Asia or some such title, then that is another focal point which can attract activists to go to as a kind of Mecca,” he said.
Even individuals who have been jailed could still pose a problem, said Mr Lee. He noted that in jail, radicals have been able to hold press conferences as well as ceremonies pledging allegiance to ISIS.
“Their terms of imprisonment are completed and then, they are released and it’s not at all clear that they are less dangerous than now than they used to be,” he added. Several hundred in Indonesian prisons are due to be released this year and next. Mr Lee said that while Indonesia is taking this very seriously, it could be a difficult problem for them.
Mr Lee also shared his thoughts on why such violent ideology persists, calling it a “very difficult” problem.
“It is not purely religion and yet it is not unrelated to a certain warped view of religion. Some people genuinely persuade themselves that this is the way to heaven and so they pursue this perverted path,” he said. “Others know very little about religion or doctrine. Something has gone with their life and this is their way to hit out at the world or at their society.
“Some of them are young people who are just misled. They are at the soul-searching stage of their lives and they stumble across this and then, get led deeper and deeper in and then, it is almost too late,” he added. “We have picked up students who are like that. They are in school and they did not have a network. It is not that they had radical friends but somehow they became interested in this.”
Mr Lee said it was lucky that authorities have discovered such students.
- CNA/xq
http://www.express.co.uk/sport/footb...r-Paris-attack
Turkish football fans boo, chant ‘God is Great’ during one-minute silence for Paris attack victims
n a troubling incident, fans at a football game in the Turkish city of Istanbul booed when a minute’s silence was being observed for victims of the Paris attacks, reports Reuters. Some also chanted Allah-u-Akbar (God is Great).
The reported incident took place during a Turkey-Greece men’s soccer friendly attended by Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras.
Here’s a video. The booing and chanting are audible.
It was the first time the two teams had met for eight years and the Turkish Football Federation had announced a string of additional security measures before the match at the Istanbul Basaksehir stadium.
Turkey went on to draw the match 0-0.
Islamic State (IS) militants struck Paris on Saturday, killing at least 132 and injuring many more. On Wednesday, a police officer was killed in Paris during a raid on an alleged terrorist hideout in northern Paris. A female suicide bomber also perished.
Justice is best served cold
http://en.abna24.com/service/middle-...528/story.html
Syrian man kills judge at ISIS Sharia Court for beheading his brother
Ahlul Bayt News Agency - A Syrian young man killed a judge from the radical group of Islamic State (ISIS) along with two of his escorts in the city of Manbij in Aleppo province, north Syria, local sources reported on Wednesday.
After killing the ISIS judge in Manbij, the man has committed suicide by shooting himself.
“The young man has shot dead a Tunisian national, who served as a judge at the ISIS-linked Sharia Court in Manbij,” said an eyewitness on the condition of anonymity, Kurdish Independent Agency reported.
The incident took place on Tuesday, after the Sharia Court beheaded several family members of the Syrian young man.
“The same judge had order the beheading of at least three family members of the man, including his brother,” the source reported.
“He took revenge and killed himself afterwards to avoid falling in the hands of Daesh (ISIS).”
In the meantime, dozens of people took to the street in Manbij to protest against ISIS atrocities. However, the group opened fire on the protesters, killing at least two and wounding several others. The rest of the protesters were arrested, said activists in Manbij.
This is the third protest organized by the people of Manbij in two months, calling for the departure of the terror group from their city and denouncing its violations against civilians.
The terror group has captured the city of Manbij more than a year and a half ago, after battles with the Syrian opposition forces.
https://www.opposingviews.com/i/poli...mpaign?fb=ptba
Russia Announces Success Of Massive Bombing Campaign Against ISIS
Though the U.S. and Russia have diplomatically sparred over Russia’s involvement in the battle against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, ISIL or Daesh, in Syria, this hasn’t stopped Russia’s onslaught of bombing.
On Nov. 17, Russia sent at least 25 Backfire, Bear and Blackjack bombers to attack ISIS forces,making it one of the heaviest bombing campaigns in modern history, The Daily Beast reported.
“During a massive airstrike [Nov. 17], 14 important ISIL targets were destroyed by 34 air-launched cruise missiles,” Gen. Valery Gerasimov, chief of Russia’s general staff, said. “The targets destroyed include command posts that were used to coordinate ISIL activities in the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo, munition and supply depots in the northwestern part of Syria.”
Idlib and Aleppo are largely held by U.S.-backed rebels, though Russia warned U.S. officials before the strike was launched, according to the Pentagon. This cooperation stems from an October agreement between the U.S. and Russia to coordinate their attacks against ISIS.
Russia’s airstrikes are motivated, in part, by the takedown of Russian Metrojet 9268 in October – an attack that ISIS took credit for. However, Russia also plans to coordinate its attacks with France, which fell victim to an attack by ISIS on Nov. 13, The New York Times reported.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and France’s President Francois Hollande have spoken on the phone. They plan to meet in Moscow on Nov. 26 to coordinate their military assault on ISIS.
Sources: The Daily Beast, The New York Times / Photo Credit: Global Panorama/Flickr, Beau Considine/Flickr
http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...-islamic-dress
Senegal considers burqa ban to stop terrorists disguising in Islamic dress
Senegal is considering banning women from wearing the burqa, amid rising fears of Islamic extremism in the west African country.
The interior minister, Abdoulaye Daouda, said women would no longer be allowed to wear the Islamic dress, which leaves only the eyes exposed. Daouda said the decision was a question of national security and was designed to prevent terrorists from using the burqa as a disguise.
An estimated 92% of Senegal’s population is Muslim. Although the country has not suffered a terrorist attack recently, authorities are concerned that the Islamic militant group Boko Haram, based in north-eastern Nigeria, may be trying to extend its range. This month, police arrested five people suspected of having ties to Boko Haram as part of a nationwide crackdown.
Chad suicide bomber kills 15 people in market and injures 80
Read more
Senegal is not alone in west Africa in banning the burqa. This year Cameroon and Chad, also with large Muslim populations, issued similar orders citing similar reasons. “Senegal is just following the trend,” said Martin Ewi, a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies.
He said the ban, though difficult to enforce, had been reasonably effective in both countries. “You still have the villages and far corners of the country where people don’t always respect the ban,” he added.
However, the ban was not a foolproof solution, Ewi warned. Two days after Chad instituted a ban, two burqa-clad bombers blew themselves up in N’Djamena, killing at least 27 people including several police officers. “They deliberately wore the burqa to attract the attention of the police,” Ewi said.
The burqa ban has been the subject of debate within Senegal, with commentators struggling to balance the national security imperative with religious freedom. “Its imposition in Senegal will cause social instability … there is a delicate line between preventive measures and respect for individual freedoms,” said Khadim Mbacke, a Dakar-based researcher.
Mbaye Niang, a Muslim leader and member of parliament, said the new law was designed to protect Islam. “We should not allow someone to cover their entire body like terrorists do. This is a tradition of some countries but it has nothing to do with Islam,” he told the local newspaper Le Quotidien. The reason terrorists use this method was because they wanted to attack the religion, he added.
Farid Essack, a religious studies scholar at the University of Johannesburg, said that context was key and the justifications used in Muslim countries did not necessarily apply elsewhere.
“In some political contexts, I find [the banning of burqas] deeply disturbing and an extension of Islamaphobia. I don’t think that the Chadian response is a manifestation of Islamophobia,” he said. “Chad … has had several bombings, a number of them were seemingly perpetrated by [fully covered] men, and I don’t think that it is unreasonable, in that context, to insist people should not be completely veiled in public.”
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/w...w/49831047.cms
These Islamist Militants are so cruel. They kill so that they can install their own version of religion in the world.
Paris attacks: Mother died using her body to shield her five-year-old son from bullets
five-year-old boy survived the massacre in Paris’s Bataclan theatre after he was sheltered from the bullets by the body of his dead mother.
Louis had been attending the Eagles of Death Metal concert with his mother Elsa Delplace, 35, and his grandmother Patricia San Martin, 61, when it was attacked by terrorist gunmen.
Ms Delplace and Ms San Martin were both shot dead as they tried to protect him - leaving him covered in blood.
READ ALSO: ‘They might have guns, but we have flowers’: Video shows father reassuring son in wake of Paris attacks
In a tribute to Ms Delplace in Le Point magazine, her friend Sihem Souid wrote: “Elsa Delplace and her mother Patricia died on Friday under a hail of bullets inside the Bataclan.
“Her son Louis, her ray of sunshine, was with her. Louis was found in Vincennes hospital, distraught and covered in his mother’s blood as she tried to protect him from the bullets.
“Elsa was a joyous person who always had a smile on her lips, even at difficult times. She was involved in the voluntary, cultural and artistic worlds. She played the cello brilliantly.
“She always fought against injustice. I think it was part of her family - her Chilean mother fled the dictatorship of Pinochet.”
READ ALSO: ‘You will not have my hatred’, husband of Paris victim tells ISIS
Eighty-nine people died in the Bataclan theatre on Friday night when gunman opened fire on the packed rock concert before detonating suicide vests.
A further 40 people were killed in coordinated attacks across the city in several restaurants and outside the Stade de France football stadium.
Tributes have flooded in for all the victims of the attacks.
Top Comment
I bow down before you. This is the definition of MOTHER. She take care of his child without any expectations.
Sishir Patnaik
SEE ALL COMMENTSADD COMMENT
In a Facebook post, French journalist Antoine Leiris, whose wife Helene Muyal-Leiris also died in the Bataclan attack, said “you will not have my hatred”.
He said: “I don’t know who you are and I don’t want to know, you are dead souls. If this God for whom you kill blindly made us in his image, every bullet in the body of my wife is a wound in his heart.
“So no, I will not give you the satisfaction of hating you. You want it, but to respond to hatred with anger would be to give in to the same ignorance that made you what you are.”
62% of Pakistanis ‘don’t know’ how they feel about Islamic State
http://tribune.com.pk/story/993966/6...islamic-state/
Despite an overwhelming negative view of Islamic State in most Muslim countries, Pakistan is an exception with a majority offering no definite opinion of the militant group, according to a new data released by the Pew Research Center.
In Pakistan, 62% of the people do not have a definite opinion on the group that has taken over swathes of land in Syria and Iraq and is responsible for some of the deadliest attacks worldwide, including last week’s Paris attacks.
Of the people surveyed in Pakistan, 28% had a negative view while nine per cent viewed the group positively.
The data shows a stark contrast to how the Islamic State is viewed in Pakistan as compared to other Muslim countries. Not a single Muslim country had less than 60% people viewing Islamic State negatively other than Pakistan.
The survey conducted by Pew Research Center in 11 countries with noticeable Muslim populations was conducted as part of the center’s annual global poll in April and May this year.
In Lebanon, a victim of one of the most recent attacks, almost every person surveyed who gave an opinion had an unfavourable view of the group, including 99% with a very unfavorable opinion. The group was viewed unfavourably by all religious groups in the country — Lebanese Sunni Muslims (98% unfavorable) and 100% of Shia Muslims and Lebanese Christians.
Israelis (97%) and Jordanians (94%) were also strongly opposed to IS as of spring 2015, including 91% of Israeli Arabs. Further, 84% in the Palestinian territories had a negative view of IS, both in the Gaza Strip (92%) and the West Bank (79%).
Six-in-ten or more had unfavorable opinions of IS in a diverse group of nations, including Indonesia, Turkey, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Malaysia and Senegal.
In Nigeria, there was alarmingly more support, 14%, for the IS as compared to other countries. But the opinions differed greatly and were affected by religious affiliations. Around 71% Nigerian Christians and 61% Muslims held unfavourable views towards the terrorist group. However, 20% of Nigerian Muslims had favorable views of IS although the country is often torn apart by Boko Haram, an IS-affiliated terrorist group but is a separate entity.
The survey did not ask people living in Western countries, however, more than half of the population in 15 mostly Western countries said they were very concerned about the growing threat of the terrorist IS.
Take for example the case of France, where only last week multiple coordinated attacks were carried out by the IS, 71% had said in spring this year that they were concerned about the IS threat.
Similarly, 77% in Spain, 70% in Germany, 69% in Italy and 68% in America held unfavorable views towards the IS and seemed perturbed by the growing threat of the terrorist group.
More importantly, the distaste has been growing along with concern in many Western and predominantly Muslim countries surveyed since the start of this decade. Consequently, there seems to be widespread support for the US military action against the extremist group in Iraq and Syria from most of the countries. In Israel 84% were in favor of the military actions, 81% in France, 80% in the United States, 78% in Lebanon, 77% in Jordan, 66% in the United Kingdom, and 62% in Germany.
11% of of Malaysia is FAVORABLE to that fucking organisation… WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK!!!!!! How can anyone be supportive of terrorism? This is fucking wrong!
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/m...ys-dr-mahathir
Jakim imposing its version of Islam, says Dr Mahathir
The Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) is trying to impose its own version of Islam on others, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today.
“In Islam, there is no compulsion,” Dr Mahathir said today when asked if Jakim was policing people’s personal lives.
“But Jakim wants to compel everyone to follow its version of Islam.”
Recently, several well-known personalities said Jakim was “unconstitutional” since the states already had rulers as heads of religion, and that Putrajaya should not be interfering in religious matters.
Mohamed Tawfik Ismail, son of former deputy prime minister Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman made the call and was supported by constitutional expert Abdul Aziz Bari.
Dr Mahathir meanwhile said this after launching former law minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim’s new book, “Assalamualaikum”, which comprises writings on Islamisation in Malaysia.
Dr Mahathir also said in his speech that Islamisation in Malaysia meant that people were not required to think when it came to religion.
“They (religious authorities) don’t want people to think. Just accept what is being taught and have faith,” he said.
He added that there was nothing in the Quran that said zakat payments must be made directly through the government and to recipients.
“I have read the Quran, and this was never mentioned. But I pay my zakat through the government because it’s easier,” he said.
Federal Territories Zakat Council chief Che Mat Che Ali recently said it was “sinful” to pay zakat directly and not through the authorities. – November 20, 2015.
- See more at:
S’porean terrorist wants Indonesian citizenship
http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-...an-citizenship
Cos you will get the death penalty if you smuggle drugs but not if you kill innocents in the name of God. We should bring him in, trial him and hang that mudderfucker
JAKARTA • Jailed Singaporean terrorist Mohammad Hassan Saynudin, also known as Fajar Taslim, wants to apply for Indonesian citizenship, and intends to stay on in Indonesia when his jail sentence ends in 2027.
His lawyer, Mr Achmad Michdan, told The Straits Times yesterday: “Because Indonesia does not accept dual citizenship, Hassan must give up his Singapore citizenship before getting Indonesian citizenship. We will seek information from the Singapore Embassy here on the procedures for giving up his citizenship.”
Hassan, 42, dreads returning to Singapore, where he could be detained under the Internal Security Act without trial, Mr Michdan said.
An associate of the Indonesian-born Singaporean terrorist Mas Selamat Kastari, Hassan is serving a jail term of 18 years for killing a Christian school teacher and planning terror attacks against Westerners.
The defiant terrorist appeared to show no remorse for his crimes when the court handed down the verdict in 2009. He said he did not appeal against the sentence because he did not recognise the judicial system.
Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja
Obama: Societies divided along racial, religious lines ‘almost never successful’ -
http://www.themalaymailonline.com/ma...ever-successfu
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 20 — Countries with societies torn apart by ethnic divisions and religious differences are “almost never successful”, often finding themselves embroiled in conflict and violence, United States president Barack Obama said today.
Obama said the US faced this problem over two centuries ago and still struggles today with issues concerning race and religion.
“Every country has racial, religious, ethnic differences.
“Violence, discrimination (that) happens in societies that are divided ethnically, racially are almost never successful,” he said during a town hall session with the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) here.
Obama said racial and religious conflict was a real issue in Southeast Asia as well, and recounted his younger days growing up in Indonesia where the ethnic Chinese community faced persecution because of their race.
“I remember when I was growing up in Indonesia, there were riots against Chinese… stores were burned down, people killed.
“And right now in Myanmar…(this is) how ethnic groups are treated, the Rohingya are treated differently,” Obama added.
US President Barack Obama participates in a town hall meeting with Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) attendees at Taylor’s University in Kuala Lumpur, November 20, 2015. — Reuters pic
US President Barack Obama participates in a town hall meeting with Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) attendees at Taylor’s University in Kuala Lumpur, November 20, 2015. — Reuters pic
The US president also later responded to a question on the Trans-Pacific Trade (TPP) agreement, denying claims it was “elitist” and would alienate the rights of citizens from countries who are signatories to the deal.
“If you’re negotiating with 12 countries and there is no space to agree on the deal, then it will never get done. If every chapter was subject to what various interest groups want….we could never get it done.
“Each country has to give up something in order to get a trade deal done,” Obama said.
- See more at:
