LTTE dragnet- They got the bogeyman they wanted

"It is a threat to the nation if there are politicians with positions who are involved in supporting terrorist groups and work towards spilling blood."

- Perlis mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin.

The far-right and religious extremists wanted a bogeyman and now they have it. 

Starting with Mohd Asri's attacks against Penang Deputy Chief Minister II, P. Ramasamy for daring to question the state’s enabling of Zakir Naik, the “LTTE threat to national security” narrative has been bubbling up in the rhetoric and hate speeches of some mainstream Malay politicians, academics and religious agitators.

Bukit Aman Special Branch Counter-Terrorism Division (E8) principal assistant director Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay had vague descriptions of “activating LTTE in the country” - “From what we can see, the pictures shown are LTTE images, this is not a matter of the Tamil rights struggle in Sri Lanka and so on, it is supporting and promoting the terrorist group.” 

This description is as preposterous as the images of the state security apparatus arresting individuals under SOSMA for having links with a defunct terrorist group.

Look anyone who is doing funding raising for Tamils (now) for healthcare, infrastructure or anything else in Sri Lanka are inevitably going to have some links with operatives from the now-defunct LTTE. 

It’s like with all those returning IS fighters, the ones embraced by the Malaysian authorities. You are going to have people who were involved in activities deemed “terrorist” who are now working within the system.

I wonder if the Sri Lankan high commission has been informed about this threat to them? Is there any coordination between the state security apparatus of Sri Lanka and their Malaysian counterparts because of this alleged threat against their commission here in Malaysia?

Seeing as how the internal politics of Sri Lanka and their threat response and assessment were called into question after the Islamic extremist attacks on Easter, one would assume that a terrorist threat against their high commission in Malaysia would be newsworthy.

That and both the Malaysian security apparatus and the Sri Lankan security apparatus would be in coordination and reassuring the public here and in Sri Lanka that all is copacetic.

So let me get this straight, the DAP political operatives were arrested for giving speeches and “promoting” the LTTE, a defunct terrorist organisations, but Malay political operatives who give speeches and promote terrorist organizations – as defined by international bodies – are allowed to operate in this country without sanction?

Please keep in mind that Hadi Awang is part of organization that has been labelled a terrorist organization by Saudi Arabia, an organization that is still operating and has its tendrils in many Islamic institutions across the world, and the PDRM is not investigating Hadi’s links with this organization.

Hadi, of course, is quivering with rage against Saudi Arabia blaming a Zionist conspiracy –“Hadi said it was not surprising that the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) was put on Saudi, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain's terror lists, due to their growing ties with Israel.”

But why are we surprised? Why the LTTE? Here we have to return to what the Perlis mufti said during his spate with P. Ramasamy - “I could also see this hate and anti-Islam (sentiment) on Ramasamy, which is a trait of LTTE.”

See there it is. The “anti-Islam” narrative that the far-right and religious extremist are attributing to the LTTE. 

The LTTE then becomes the convenient bogeyman for their cause in attempting to craft a narrative that Non-Malays specifically Indians – are attempting to promote an anti-Islam organization here in Malaysia. 

Remember Mohd Asri (above) claimed we needed a “Saddam Hussin” to unite Muslims in this country hence his ideas of proportionality are neither logical nor rational.

This narrative also conveniently targets the DAP because now the far right and the Islamic deep state have a shorthand legitimised by the state security apparatus to justify further narratives that the Malay community and Islam are under threat from hostile forces cultivated by homegrown extremists connected politically and thus able to influence policy in this country.

You can find my definition of the deep Islamic state here https://www.malaysiakini.com/columns/486022 but a summary is in order.

The deep Islamic state is a result of the vast religious bureaucracy, the doctrinal teachings of propaganda endeavours like the Biro Tata Negara (BTN), the religious education system and foreign influence either through education or experience in foreign theatres of war.”

The recent LTTE dragnet has once again put the state security apparatus credibility in question. Remember the early narrative of the Seafield riots as a clash between two rival Indian groups? 

When minister Waythaymoorthy debunked this claim, they were calls for him to resign. The discourse surrounding this event and the propaganda of fireman's Adib death defines the new reality that Indian political operatives find themselves.

This new reality is defined by Harapan Indian politicians having to issue a press release about the gross travesty of justice when it comes to these two detained political operatives. 

The DAP is now going to be tarred by accusations that it is part of a wider conspiracy to revive a terrorist organization in Malaysia or it is being infiltrated by terrorist sympathizers.

The aim, of course, is to erode Indian support for the DAP, either by forcing the “Chinese” component to avow or disavow the Indian political operatives who have been the most outspoken in this coalition. 

Think about this rationally. Even if these political operatives have given speeches at these gatherings how is this different from what some mainstream political operatives are doing with regards to Islamic causes?

Unless the state security apparatus is charging these men with conspiring to carry out a terrorist attack? Of course, by linking these to political operatives to the alleged attack they have already tarred the reputation of these men and the DAP. 

It is pointless for the PDRM to warn people not to speculate when this is already become a political issue because of the way how the PDRM chose to handle it.

The credibility of the state security apparatus is in tatters. They cannot find Indira Gandhi's daughter. 

Their lack of action – as judged by the inquest of fireman Adib – is directly linked to his death. 

A Suhakam commission into the disappearance of Pastor Koh And activist Amri Che Mat has revealed that the state security apparatus played a role in their kidnapping.

The optics of this is that the state security apparatus is appeasing or enabling the narratives of certain political and religious factions in this country.

Remember the moral of the tale of the boy who cried wolf is not that that you should not tell the same lie twice but that when the wolf really appears at your doorstep, nobody will believe you.

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S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. A retired barrister-at-law, he is one of the founding members of Persatuan Patriot Kebangsaan. - Mkini