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PAS : KE ARAH PEMERINTAHAN ISLAM YANG ADIL
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SAUK, ISLAMIC EXTREMISM AND UNANSWERED QUESTIONS.
It seems that the ruling regime is taking full advantage of the Sauk
incident, turning it into an anti-PAS propaganda. The message that is being
conveyed is that "this is the kind of people who are talking about Islamic
state, do you want to be ruled by them?" Closer examination of
the incident seems to leave more questions, doubts and skepticism. In spite
of the fact that the police were saying they were still investigating the
matter, the PM saw is fit to make his own pronouncements and vile
accusations. The arm heist shocked the nation. However, it didn't take long
for doubts and skepticisms to appear as the official account of the heist
and subsequent events were contradictory and inconsistent. We may dismiss
one or two contradictions as being due to miscommunication. However, as more
and more contradictions and inconsistencies surface it is becoming apparent
that these inconsistencies reveal something deeper.
As a start, official account of the heist stated that it was conducted by 15
people in three Pajeros. Bernama even reported that the group consisted on
Malays, Iban and Indians. The group is said to have been lead by a man
masquerading as a colonel. The army personnel at the camp knew him and he
was easily identified by the scar on his face. In fact, the leader is
actually a former captain who was discharged after being court-martialed.
The army, police and even this author, knows the name of this ex-captain.
Yet, he is not among those arrested and was not on the hill in Sauk. The
total haul was 118 assault rifles, light machine guns and GPMG
(general-purpose machine gun) and 5,000 rounds of ammunition. Given that
each of the three Pajeros were occupied by 5 passengers the only space left
was in the boot. This was hardly enough to carry the loot. Former military
personnel contacted by the author said that it would need a three-ton truck
to carry all the weapons. Each of the GPMG is so heavy and huge that it
would take two persons to carry it. It was only after this point was raised
that the authorities suddenly changed its story and said that the robbers
came in 5 Pajeros; not unlike the Attorney General changing the date in
Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy trial.
The whole thing took a comical twist when this group decided to take up
position on a hill in a durian orchard. What strategic value does a durian
orchard in the Perak hinterland has? One does not need to be a military
strategist to understand that one cannot topple a government by
Taking position in a durian orchard. It is difficult to believe that a group
that had meticulously planned this heist and execute it with such efficiency
that it is described by the local press as " a la Mission Impossible", can
suddenly be so naove that they decided to take up position in a Durian
orchard. To make matters more incredulous the raiders even parked neatly
their Pajeros and then moved the arms to other cars before going to the
Sauk hill. And then again, parking all their cars neatly by the roadside.
Interestingly enough villagers in the area had noticed suspicious activities
as early as two weeks before the incident and had in fact made a police
report. In spite of the fact that this area is near the border and we would
expect the police to be vigilant, nothing was done. Press report of the
events at the Sauk hill were often contradictory and on one occasion
contradicted by the IGP. One such report was by reporters
on the scene describing a fire fight between the robbers and the security
forces. However, this was denied by the IGP. By then, the group was
identified as Al Maunah. The IGP described them as a deviationist group but
not part of any political party. Of course, this seems to make no
difference to the PM. Official accounts of the events at Sauk also were
inconsistent. An earlier statement said that a Chinese durian seller was
among the hostages. Later on there was no further mention of this Chinese
durian seller. The most glaring blooper was the number of hostage. It was
only after the group had surrendered that it was known that a commando,
Matew a/k Medan, was one of the hostages and that there were four and not
three hostages as
Stated by the authorities. The question is when and how did the group
capture Matew. The Star on 11 July gave the accounts of the two hostages
that survived. The SB officer stated that Matew was captured on Tuesday, 4
July at 11 am. However, the other surviving hostage said that Matew was
captured at noon on Monday, 3 July.
Equally troubling is the tragic death of the Indian SB officer. The question
is how did get involved in the first place? Was he sent to infiltrate the
group? Or was he sent to collect intelligence on the group? Either way, the
choice of an Indian SB officer to do whatever it was he was doing in a
predominantly Malay area and in a mainly Malay group is simply unbelievable.
Is this a reflection of the insensitivity and incompetence of the Special
Branch or was it.? Another question is where did Matew come from? If he is a
member of the commando unit cordoning the hill, his absence would have been
noticed and his squad members would have raised the alarm. It is standard
procedure for the army, including commando units, to constantly keep a head
count of its personnel during operation. How then could Matew go missing
without the members of his team noticing it? This raises the question of
whether he was a part of the commando team cordoning the area or in fact
part of the Al Ma'unah group.
An equally perplexing question is regarding the two Al Ma'unah members who
surrendered first. Press reports stated that one of them walked out with a
GPMG. If someone is trying to surrender why would he carry a GPMG along?
He'd be risking being shot by the security forces cordoning the area. In
fact, it is curious that the security forces did not shoot him given
the heavy armament he was carrying. Sources within the Ministry of Home
Affairs revealed that on Wednesday 5 July, the PM and DPM had both
instructed Najib to attack the hill and kill all the Al Ma'unah members.
However, this instruction was not carried out. Najib conferred with the
generals and was advised to use restraint and minimal force. Taking a hill
that is defended by heavily armed people isn't exactly like crashing
through the gate of a kampong to arrest villagers armed only with parangs.
The police on their part was insistent on carrying the PM and DPM's
instruction but was not prepared to lead the attack. In the end, cooler
heads in the army prevailed. It was professionalism and not political
subservience that won the day.
In the end, the Al Ma'unah group requested to negotiate. Lt. General Zaini
Nordin went to talk with the group leader and a brief scuffle took place and
the group's leader accidentally shot on of his own follower. The interesting
thing to note here is that none of the other Al Ma'unah members intimidated
General Zaini or behaved aggressively towards him during the negotiation and
even when things became tense. They were all calm and passively watching the
negotiation. Hardly the kind of a conduct you'd expect from a bunch of
bloodthirsty terrorists.
Information on the Al Ma`unah group itself is contradictory. The Star
reported that the group was formed in September 1998. The choice of
September 1998 seems more intended to imply a link with Anwar Ibrahim and
the reformasi movement. However, other reports show that the group, which
was registered with the Registrar of Society, had been banned in 1995. There
seems to be a lot of fact twisting aimed at soiling the opposition.
How do we make sense of all these inconsistencies? What happened to the Iban
and Indian reported by a Bernama to be part of the group that raided the
armoury? What happened to the Chinese durian seller said to be one of the
hostages? When was trooper Matew captured? Why did the police ignore
villagers' report of suspicious activity in the area as early as two weeks
before the incident? Is the Al Ma`unah really the perpetrator or in fact a
victim, lured into a situation to make it appear as though they are
responsible for the whole thing?
One theory is that the whole thing was really a set-up. It is most likely
that more than one group was involved in the events. The group that raided
the camp is different from the group that built the bunkers on the hill in
the durian orchard in Sauk two weeks before the events. The latter probably
had put the weapons up on the hill even before the arm heist. And the group
that finally took up position on the hill is a different group, presumably
members of Al Ma`unah, who were lured into the place.
It seems likely that the whole incident was engineered by a group, lets call
it a black ops group, that had the blessing of the highest authority. How
else do you explain the police's indifference and inaction after receiving
reports of suspicious activities in the area? Given that
members of the Al Ma'unah had beard, they could not have disguised
themselves as army officers. What probably happened was that the black ops
group organized the arm heist on the military camp using ex-soldiers. They
actually took away a much smaller number of weapons than that claimed by the
authorities. Members of this black ops group had also infiltrated the Al
Ma`unah group and probably manipulated its leader, Mohd Amin, who probably
was a psychopath in the first place. Other members were lured to the Sauk
hill under the pretext of silat practice but were then told to switch into
army uniform once they were there. This explains why they were passive and
quiet during the scuffle between Amin and General Zaini.
They were not violent terrorist and probably did not even know how to use
the rifles.
This raises the question why and who killed the hostages. The version
reported in the press is that Al Ma`unah group members were angered when one
of them was killed in a fire fight. This made them shot the hostage.
However, two alternative theories should be considered. The first
theory is that both Matew and the Indian SB officer were actually part of
the black ops group. However, both did know fully what they were into and
when they realized the seriousness of the situation they wanted out. By
then, other black ops group members were worried that the two may reveal
the true story and decided to kill both of them. The second theory is that their
murder is part of the script of the black ops group to create a fear and
hatred of Islamist among non-Muslims. These two theories may sound like an
X-files episode but seems consistent with the early Bernama report that the
group that raided the armoury included Indian(s) and Iban(s). Likewise the
ignorance of the commandos besieging the hill of Matew's presence as a
"captive" among the Al Ma`unah group indicates that he was not part of
commando unit deployed in the area.
Another interesting piece of the puzzle is the scenario on the ground at
Sauk itself. If we were to observe closely the photos published in the press
and the clips in the TV, an unusual observation can be made. In spite of the
seriousness of the situation and the potential threat to
civilian life, many of the photos and video clips seem to show civilians
carrying on with their normal life e.g. a girl riding a bicycle, taper
walking to work etc. This is very unusual for a place that sounded as though
it was facing the threat of war. Compare this with the situation when
Private Adam ran amok in KL more than 10 years. A complete curfew was
imposed and the heart of KL was practically deserted. And it was just one
person armed with an M-16.
The next question is why is it necessary for something like this to be
hatched? It seems that probably only one person can answer the question. As
of now, he's more interested turning this incident into a propaganda coup
against PAS.
That UMNO has lost support among the Malays is no secret. And that BN won
the last general election because of Chinese vote is also well known. The PM
is increasingly disturbed with the progress made in the blossoming
relationship between PAS and DAP. It certainly is better than the
relationship between MCA and Gerakan. The series of dialogues that has been
held by DAP and PAS has clarified many issues and corrected many
misperception among Chinese community leaders. This development is worrying
the PM. To turn this tide around he needs to create a traumatic event that
will really scare the non-Muslims, particularly the Chinese, of Islam and
Islamic state. This incident will also be used to perhaps even ban the use
of the word "Islam" in PAS and perhaps even ban PAS itself. This would have
been achieved if the whole Al Ma`unah group had been killed as the PM, DPM
and police wanted. The attack on the hill itself would have caused perhaps
the death of a dozen soldiers. This would infuriate the society as a whole
and PAS would be put on the firing line.
For Pak Lah, this would have given him the opportunity to kill two birds
with one stone. He can also blame everything on Najib and thereby kill the
political career of his potential challenger. This assault on Najib could be
seen in the orchestrated manner the press attacked him. Pak Lah was potrayed
as the hero and Norian Mai as the strategist for resolving the crisis. Of
course, Najib retorted that this incident happened because there was no
advance information. Essentially, he was saying that the police, which is
Pak Lah's portfolio as Minister of Internal Affairs, failed in their
intelligence gathering duties. And thank god Pak Lah and Norian's strategy
didn't work. Thumb up for the army for having averted a Blood bath
Fortunately, the Malaysian army conducted themselves professionally. They
were the heroes and handled the crisis well. This managed to avoid the blood
bath that Mahathir, Pak Lah and the police so eagerly wanted. In spite of
that, we see them going on a propaganda orgy to implicate PAS in the
incident. What we can expect to see in the next few weeks are TV confessions
from some of those Al Ma`unah members who were detained. The whole thing
will be tied to PAS and become the justification for some harsh action
against it. It is interesting to note that the Shah of Iran used this same
ploy during his last desperate days. In an attempt to destroy the support
and damage the standing of the Islamist, he had his secret police lock the
doors of a cinema full of people and set it on fire. He was hoping to blame
it on the Islamists, who were seen as being against such forms of
entertainment. Instead the whole thing backfired and fueled the uprising
against his rule further. Perhaps, this Sauk incident could have turned out
to be Mahathir's burning cinema. Perhaps, Mahathir will try something
crazier after this. And perhaps, Mahathir will get his burning cinema then.
CINEMA PATRON
Angelfire for your free web-based e-mail. http://www.angelfire.com
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