After loads of explosions and gunfire, French security forces killed the two Kouachi brothers, Cherif and Said, suspected in the Charlie Hebdo massacre while raiding a factory where they had holed up with a hostage. Amazingly, the hostage was freed – Vive la France! – and that my friends, speaks volumes about the country’s GIGN. That’s France’s Groupe d’Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale.

GIGN is a special operations unit of the French Armed Forces, trained to perform counter-terrorist and hostage rescue missions. In short, they’re trained to become Rambos. But as it turned out, the two Kouachi brothers were not the only terrorists terrorising Paris. Another pair of maniacs who had earlier shot a policewoman to death were working together with the brothers. The second pair were couple Amedy Coulibaly and Hayat Boumeddiene.

Moments after the Kouachi brothers were killed, GIGN stormed into a Jews-owned kosher deli store, located about 20-miles away. Apparently, 33-year-old Coulibaly had taken over the store, together with hostages. While the Kouachi brothers were targeting cartoonists, Amedy targeted Jewish communities, with helps from 26-year-old Hayat. French prosecutors said four hostages had been killed when Coulibaly first entered the store.

The coordinated police raids brought to an end the most deadly terrorist attack in France for a generation. Sadly, the three days crisis had cost at least 19 or 20 people’s lives, including three terrorists. The fourth terrorist – Hayat Boumeddiene – is reportedly to have escaped to Syria, after crossing border to Spain and took a flight from Madrid to Istanbul. Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen admitted it directed the attack on Charlie Hedbo.

As the plot thickens, CNN reported that couple Amedy Coulibaly and Hayat Boumeddiene had taken to Malaysia for their holiday. Such revelation couldn’t come at a worse time, when Malaysia had lost three commercial planes last year, with the first missing Flight MH370 being linked to al-Qaeda terrorists, amongst other speculations. It also doesn’t help the country that it was among the top 50 countries ranked on a global terrorism index.

 

Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, cousin of prime minister Najib Razak, has called for increased security efforts because Malaysia could be open to terrorism attacks, similar to the one in Paris. Obviously, Hishammuddin should have every reason to be cautious as his ministry’s portfolio would be accused of incompetency, should a terrorist attack happens in the country. He must have sleepless nights hoping and praying it won’t happen.

Has Hishammuddin received any intelligence update from his counterpart from France and Britain about possibilities of any attacks in the near future? Although it seems a remote possibility that Malaysia would taste its first real terrorist attack, considering majority of the population are Muslims, one has to remember there’re tons of western-owned business interests in the country. That would make them easy targets.

 

Racists and extremists such as former premier Mahathir Mohamad and Perkasa Ibrahim Ali have worsen the situation by indirectly extending their supports for the Kouachi brothers’ attack on Charlie Hebdo, as if those cartoonists deserved it because they insulted Prophet Muhammad though cartoons. Mahathir should know better than anyone else about terrorism, considering the country was a breeding ground for terrorists during his 22-year-old rule.

The crucial question: are Malaysian authorities ready for any terrorist threat? If the 2013 Sabah invasion was any indicator, the country is absolutely not ready for a similar Paris terror attacks, unfortunately. Amusingly, Hishammuddin was the same person in charge (then Home Minister) of Sabah crisis where he screwed up hugely by underestimating the Sulu intruders as a bunch of malnourished, old, sarong-wearing and slippers-equipped militants.

 

Coincidently, Hishammuddin, who was the acting Transport Minister last year, also brought unthinkable embarrassment to the country during the Flight MH370 crisis management. Beside flip-flopping and contradicting almost on daily basis, Malaysian authorities also didn’t realise two Iranians boarded MH370 with stolen passports until it was revealed by foreign news, despite the information had been updated into Interpol’s SLTD database.

It’s a common knowledge that Malaysia is a popular terrorist transit point. Throw in corruption and the country is a heaven for terror groups, just like Phuket is to prostitute-seeking groups. Guess what, the latest exposure about a shop in Bandar Baru Bangi doing brisk business selling Islamic State (IS) merchandise openly without any interference from the police shows just how much authorities really care about terrorist activities in the country.

 

Perhaps Najib administration thought as long as they adopt a “see no terrorist, hear no terrorist, speak no terrorist” policy, terror groups would “give face” and leave the country alone. And as a consolation prize, the government gets to enjoy terrorist-tourism foreign exchange revenue (*grin*). Or perhaps terror threats could be used to justify a new ISA law, whereby it could be abused to throw opposition leaders into jail.

 

However, just like how tourism was affected by the tragic losses of MH370 and MH17, so much so that the once arrogant Nazri Aziz (Tourism Minister) has been keeping a low profile, a terror attack could do unlimited damage to the country. Foreign investors could start close down or downsize their business presence in the country. Heck, even local non-Muslim business interests could be targets if PM Najib continues to pamper extremism and racism.

 

Other Articles That May Interest You …

• Charlie Hebdo To Print 1-Million Copies – And Here’s Proof They Mock All Religions
• World Cartoonists Strike Back – With More Je Suis Charlie Cartoons
• AirAsia Flight QZ8501 Didn’t Have Permission To Fly – Blame Games Started?
• Busted!! Russia Latest Stunt On Fake MH17 Images Fails Miserably
• Here’s How Russian-Made Buk Missile Systems Shot Down Flight MH17, In 9.86 Seconds
• Hishammuddin, Greatest Leader Since Nelson Mandela
• Missing Jet – Results of Endless Corruption, Incompetence, Extremism
• What Are The Lessons Learned from Sabah Invasion?

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January 11th, 2015 by financetwitter

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