Malaysia   (map)

Recent Events | Terrorism

Malaysia's modern history begins as a British trading colony, part of the Malay peninsula port vying with Singapore as a gateway to Asia.  It won its independence in 1957, however centuries old disputes over borders eventually led, in 1963,  to a mutual protection move to combine Singapore and Malay (West Malaysia) and Sabah and Sarawak in north Borneo (East Malaysia).  However the next three years were marred by disputes with Indonesia, and in  1965, Singapore, rather dramatically successfully, ceded to become its own city-state island.

The government is a "paramount ruler", with a King and Parliament.  Syed Sirajuddin is Malaysia's 12th king under a rotational system  created after independence from Britain in 1957.  The system was designed to spread the power  across the sultans and rajas who had ruled over fiefdoms for hundreds of years.  The mostly ceremonial post of King is not inherited, rather every five years the nations 13 states sends representatives who elect a successor by secret ballot.  However, the political power resides in the current Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad. It should be noted that the King may veto a proposed law, however, if the vetoed is overturned by the parliament by a second vote, it becomes law.

The military forces; Malaysian Army, Royal Malaysian Navy, Royal Malaysian Air Force, Royal Malaysian Police Force, Marine Police, Sarawak Border Scouts have a pool of some 3.5 million men of age 21 to 49 to pull from.

The Malaysian economy, like its neighbors went through the 1995 to 1998 sinkhole, but unlike many of its neighbors came out smelling like a rose.  Its export sector is rising at 10% since 1999 and GDP tracks at 5%.  It boasts a billion dollars of financial reserves.  Its labor force focus on manufacturing 27%, agriculture, forestry, and fisheries 16%, local trade and tourism 17%, services 15%, government 10%, construction 9%.  The manufacturing side is focused mostly in the area of semiconductor and semiconductor support with the total industry picture being:

• Malay Peninsula - rubber and oil palm processing and   manufacturing, light manufacturing industry, electronics, tin mining and smelting, logging and processing timber
• Sabah - logging, petroleum production
• Sarawak - agriculture processing, petroleum production and refining, and logging

Malaysia's long history of border disputes continue today, for instance, it is involved in a complex dispute over the Spratly Islands with China, Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, and possibly Brunei, two islands in dispute with Singapore; Sipadan and Ligitan Islands in dispute with Indonesia, and finally, the Philippines has not fully revoked claim to Sabah State.

The other major problem for the government, besides its economy, would be the illicit drug trade like most SEA countries provides a large portion of the local income, but which does not contribute to the GNP or taxes. Malaysia severely enforces its anti drug laws, but despite horrendously stiff penalties, the trade continues -- perhaps because of years of tradition and well armed and organized smuggling operations.

The Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia have agreed to share information on terrorists as part of a new Anti-Terrorist Trilateral Agreement. The agreement was signed on May 8, 2002 in Putrajaya, the new Malaysian capital.

Recent Events in Malaysia

• April 30, 2002 - HP will continue its operations in Malaysia after Compaq deal closes - Compaq Managing Director T.F. Chong will head the new organization, and Badlisham Ghazali, HP Malaysia managing director, will oversee the company's services business.
• April 28, 2002 - Seven women from Indonesia and Thailand are rescued from Samurai sword welding captors in forced prostitution ring in Kalum Kapur, Malaysia.
• April 25, 2002 -  Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad makes statement at the coronation of Malaysia's mostly ceremonial King, citing Malaysia as proof that peaceful Islamic teachings provide a successful path to follow in the modern world.
• March 20, 2002 - Bush aid for hunger seeks to combat Wahhabi Koranic schools across the globe including such schools throughout Malaysia.
• January 31, 2002 - Malaysia a major "staging area" for worldwide terrorist organizations including Al-Qaida, says U.S. and Asian leaders.  Along with Indonesia and the Philippines, Malaysia is an unwilling provider of homes to any number of Asian terrorists, many whose targets are not in Malaysia but other countries across water.
• January 29, 2002 - U.S. Ambassador to Malaysia is frustrated over Malaysia laws designed to act against political opponents and cited by Malaysia as "anti terrorism" laws.
• January 28, 2002 - News Week magazine ties  former Malaysian army captain, Yazid Sufaat to al-Qaida and says the region was the launch pad for the 9/11 terrorists.
• January 14, 2002 - Sex Slave Trade Has Become a Crisis of Global Proportions - 23 countries -including

U.S. allies such as Israel, Saudi Arabia, Greece, Turkey and South Korea - are not doing enough to address trafficking. Other countries not doing enough include: Albania, Bahrain, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burma, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Greece, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Pakistan, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates and Yugoslavia
• January 13, 2002 -  Singapore announced the arrests of two suspected militants tied to the al-Qaida terror network and linked Malaysian extremists to a cell in Singapore that plotted to bomb Western embassies.  The government said more al-Qaida members were likely still at large, even after the arrest of 30 suspected militants so far Singapore and and neighboring Malaysia.

 

• al-Qaida- Osama Bin Laden's international offshoot of the Islamic Jihad organization, this group is active in the Philippines due to its current goal is to "reestablish the Muslim state" throughout the world. Works with allied Islamic extremist groups to overthrow regimes it deems "non Islamic" and remove Westerners from Muslim countries.  This includes supports for Moros and their efforts to form independent states, as well as funding Filipino communist rebels from safe locations on islands in Indonesia that are south of the Philippines.
• Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF)  Islamic extermists/separatists who wish Philippines to be an Islamic Nation. Typically found in the Southern parts of Philippines (Mindanao). Led by the former Governor Nur Misuari, have been involved in kidnapping and then using hostages to gain concessions from the Philippines Government. In November of 2001, they took a large number of captives and government troops closed in, a death of some 56, 5 of which were Philippines soldiers. The group used hostages to win free passage to a neighboring province. The MNLF is active all over the Moro Sea and has covert bases and hideouts in Malaysia.
• Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ( LTTE ) - Since 1983, the Tigers have integrated a battlefield insurgent strategy with a terrorist program that targets not only key personnel in the countryside but also senior Sri Lankian political and military leaders in Colombo. Political assassinations have become commonplace and culminated in May 1993 with the successful and fatal bombing attack upon President Ranasinghe Premadasa.   Sources say that the LTTE has killed upwards of 60,000 people in the conflict. India accuses the reclusive Tamil Tiger chief Velupillai Prabhakaran of masterminding Gandhi's death in  retaliation for his ordering of Indian troops into Tamil-rebel areas in 1987 to disarm the guerrillas as part  of a peacekeeping mission. The LTTE goes by a number of aliases:
• World Tamil Association (WTA)
• World Tamil Movement (WTM)
• Federation of Associations of Canadian Tamils (FACT)
• Ellalan Force
• Sangillan Force

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