jihad - Khadijah Mosque

Jihadsecurity agencies and personnel. Fewer than halfof the respondents were familiar with theemergency procedures in the event of aterrorist bomb. The public has to be made torealize the importance of heightening theirvigilance reducing the threat, says Dr RohanGunaratna, as an alert public will make it verydifficult for terrorists to mount especially a bigattack, as it involves a higher risk of exposingtheir significant number of terrorists operativesand resources, to the public eye. While thecurrent government's strategy of targetingselected sections of the community, like grassrootmembers, taxi drivers or hotel industrypersonnel can be seen as a step in this directionthey also need to aggressively assert theimportance of constant vigilance in each andevery Singaporean individual. The momentumand level of anti-terrorist activity should besustainable over the long run as the threat is aprolonged one.Singapore's resilience as a nation has beensuccessfully tested especially during the SARSperiod. This resilience needs to be nurtured andimproved as a preparation to prepare for futuredisasters. Addressing parliament on 14 March2003, Minister for Home Affairs Mr Wong KanSeng said, "…no one can guarantee that aterrorist attack will not happen here. Ourapproach must be to make it difficult for theterrorists to carry out its evil deeds while at thesame time, be well prepared and ready to dealwith the repercussions if such attack doeshappen." His views are echoed by PrimeMinister Lee Hsien Loong in his National Daymessage on Monday, 8 August 2005,"...Thebombings in London and in Egypt remind usthat the war on terror continues, and despitethe tightest precautions, the terroristssometimes get through. We must bepsychologically prepared for this, so that if theyever strike here we will be resolute andindomitable, refusing to be cowed by theterrorists and staying one united people.Law enforcement and intelligence officersshould "proactively target not only terrorist cellsbut also supporter cells that carry out thepropaganda, fund raising, recruitment drive andindoctrination..." . In view of this, the law shouldbe constantly reviewed to ensure their relevance.There have been calls to do away with Singapore'sInternal Security Act (ISA) but the Singaporegovernment feels that it has been instrumentalin uncovering and dismantling a Singapore JIcell in 2001. In fact, Singapore's MinisterThe public has to bemade to realize theimportance ofheightening theirvigilance reducing thethreat, says Dr RohanGunaratna, as an alertpublic will make it verydifficult for terrorists tomount especially a bigattack, as it involves ahigher risk of exposingtheir significant numberof terrorists operativesand resources, to thepublic eye.Mentor, Mr Lee Kuan Yew believes thatIndonesia's ability to fight terrorism is hamperedby the lack of a Singapore-style InternalSecurity Act. He said," The Indonesians aresaying that we don't have the Internal SecurityAct, we can't do anything. They wait for the bombto go off, then they investigate the crime andthey capture the people who did the crime andthey prosecute them. And then there's the nextbomb and the next bomb." Indonesia's lack ofpolitical will and effective security legislation is aconcern for the region, as it enables JI and itsinfrastructure to thrive. While the Indonesianpolice are continuing to pursue JI members,there is no formal ban on JI; hence it will bedifficult to convict anyone solely on the groundsMasjid Khadijah 57