*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* { Sila lawat Laman Hizbi-Net - http://www.hizbi.net } { Hantarkan mesej anda ke: [EMAIL PROTECTED] } { Iklan barangan? Hantarkan ke [EMAIL PROTECTED] } *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* PAS : KE ARAH PEMERINTAHAN ISLAM YANG ADIL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ( Melanggan ? To : [EMAIL PROTECTED] pada body : SUBSCRIBE HIZB) ( Berhenti ? To : [EMAIL PROTECTED] pada body: UNSUBSCRIBE HIZB) ( Segala pendapat yang dikemukakan tidak menggambarkan ) ( pandangan rasmi & bukan tanggungjawab HIZBI-Net ) ( Bermasalah? 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