A ringleader of the Jemaah Islamiah terrorist group offered to call off attacks against Singapore if he was released from detention, Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said. Ibrahim Maidin also said the real enemy was the United States, but Singapore became an enemy too when it cracked down on the al-Qaeda-linked JI in 2001. A security analyst told today's Straits Times Ibrahim, netted in the first wave of arrests in Singapore following the attacks in the United States and whose detention was extended for another two years, had not recanted. "These terrorists will not give up," he was quoted as saying. Ibrahim told officials: "Release me. I will go and talk to my friends and tell them not to attack you."
| "Cross my heart and hope to ... um, ... |
Singapore was a target because of the millions of Western tourists who visit and the many US and other multinational companies here. "Singapore is being targeted not for what we did, but for who we are," said Lee, already selected to become the city-state's next prime minister. The war against terror, Lee said, would be a long-term one, Lee said. Terrorists are being trained in Mindanao in the southern Philippines, he claimed. "We are mentally preparing ourselves for the worst, and to respond effectively should it ever happen," said Lee, son of Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew. |