Malaysia: Adapting to the dynamic changes of terrorist threats

2019 ◽  
pp. 102-127
Author(s):  
Kamarulnizam Abdullah ◽  
Ridzuan Abdul Aziz
Keyword(s):  
Legal Knowledge ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
Surveillance Technology ◽  
Adaptive Capability ◽  
Terrorist Groups ◽  
Reasonable Evidence ◽  
The Government ◽  
Heart And Mind ◽  
Trial Failure ◽  
New Strategies

Threats posed by the current religiously inspired terrorist groups leave Malaysia with no choice but to adapt to new strategies and approaches. Not only the threats have become more global in terms of networking and influences, but also the use of Islam to justify their attacks produces great challenges to the country and its security enforcement apparatus. At the macro level, Malaysia’s promotion on moderation and wasatiyah, as part of its counterterrorism campaign has been widely accepted by the international community. At home, the campaign of winning heart and mind continues to become an essential strategy of the government. Malaysia’s success in countering major terror threats since independence has also been credited to the role played by the police’s Special Branch (SB) Unit and the existence of preventive laws. Yet when those preventive laws were repealed, amid changing political climate and democracy in the country, the enforcement authorities particularly the police’s Special Branch are forced to re-strategize their intelligence gatherings and to learn vigorously the legal process. They are forced to be equipped with higher legal knowledge since the new laws required reasonable evidence to be presented during the trial, failure which could have be resulted in a dismissal of the charges. At the same time, the force is also upgrading its tactical skills and surveillance technology given the current terrorists’ adaptive capability with a loosely connected decentralized network.

scholarly journals HISTORICAL EXPERIENCE OF COUNTERING YOUTH POLITICAL TERRORISM BY THE POLICE OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY AND CONCLUSIONS FOR PRESENT-DAY RUSSIA (TERROR GROUP ‘RED ARMY FRACTION’ TAKEN AS AN EXAMPLE)

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-11
Author(s):  
Ilya Leonidovich Morozov
Keyword(s):  
Federal Republic ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
Terrorist Groups ◽  
Red Army ◽  
The Government

‘Red Army Fraction’ is a youth extremist left-wing terror group that was active in the 1970–1980s on the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany. The terror group and its ideology originated mostly in Western German university circles. Most representatives of the group were descendants from wealthy families of high social standing. The ideology of the group included a mix of concepts related to social equity, preventing autocratic tendencies in the government machinery and interventions of Western countries against developing ‘third world’ countries and peoples. State security system of West Germany was unable to suppress the terror group for over two decades. The group finally announced its voluntary dissolution in 1998 due to a dramatic change in socio-political climate and general crisis of the left-wing political ideology. The growth of oppositional sentiments among present-day Russian young people is partially similar to the students’ unrest that had place in Western Europe in the 1960s and gave rise to terrorist groups. This makes the study of West Germany’s experience in countering the threat important.

Do Foreign Aid Projects Attract Transnational Terrorism?

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Boutton ◽  
Henry Pascoe
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Aid ◽  
Humanitarian Assistance ◽  
Aid Workers ◽  
Transnational Terrorism ◽  
News Stories ◽  
Terrorist Groups ◽  
Local Residents ◽  
The Government ◽  
Project Level

AbstractGovernments and NGOs establish aid projects in order to improve the quality of life for local residents around the world. While recent news stories about aid workers being kidnapped or killed by terrorist groups are alarming, they mask a broader question: Are aid projects effective in promoting humanitarian aims and pacifying the areas to which it is sent? Or, conversely, does their presence actually attract more violence? Although humanitarian assistance is ostensibly non-political, aid projects themselves may make popular targets for terrorist groups. In addition to increasing resources available to plunder, aid provides an appealing foreign target, allowing terrorist groups to reach wider audiences with their attacks and to reinforce the narrative that the government lacks capacity to protect and provide for civilians. In this paper we combine subnational, project-level aid data with newly-assembled subnational data on transnational terrorism to explore terrorist targeting of aid locations. After presenting our matched-sample analysis of terrorist targeting of aid, we outline avenues for future inquiry using high-resolution, subnational data to investigate the strategic vulnerabilities of foreign aid projects.

scholarly journals “The British Soldier is no Bolshevik”: The British Army, Discipline, and the Demobilization Strikes of 1919

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Butler
Keyword(s):  
Armed Forces ◽  
British Army ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
Civilian Life ◽  
Daily Mail ◽  
Winston Churchill ◽  
The Press ◽  
The Government ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Military

Abstract This article considers the breakdown in discipline in the British Army which occurred in Britain and on the Western Front during the process of demobilization at the end of the First World War. Many soldiers, retained in the army immediately after the Armistice, went on strike, and some formed elected committees, demanding their swifter return to civilian life. Their perception was that the existing demobilization system was unjust, and men were soon organized by those more politically conscious members of the armed forces who had enlisted for the duration of the war. At one stage in January 1919, over 50,000 soldiers were out on strike, a fact that was of great concern to the British civilian and military authorities who miscalculated the risk posed by soldiers. Spurred on by many elements of the press, especially the Daily Mail and Daily Herald, who both fanned and dampened the flames of discontent, soldiers’ discipline broke down, demonstrating that the patriotism which had for so long kept them in line could only extend so far. Though senior members of the government, principally Winston Churchill, and the military, especially Douglas Haig and Henry Wilson, were genuinely concerned that Bolshevism had ‘infected’ the army, or, at the very least, the army had been unionized, their fears were not realized. The article examines the government’s strategy regarding demobilization, its efforts to assess the risk of politicization and manage the press, and its responses to these waves of strikes, arguing that, essentially, these soldiers were civilians first and simply wanted to return home, though, in the post-war political climate, government fears were very real.

scholarly journals A Critical Analysis of Legal Aid in Bangladesh

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 139
Author(s):  
Md. Nannu Mian ◽  
Md. Mamunur Rashid
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Poverty Line ◽  
Legal Rights ◽  
Legal Knowledge ◽  
Legal Aid ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Analytical Research ◽  
The Government

Legal aid is essentially a mechanism that enables the poor and the vulnerable sectors of the society to be able to enforce their legal rights in order to access a fair and equitable justice in the society. Nowadays, a legal aid can be justifiably said as a crying need to ensure social and legal justice in Bangladesh because most of the citizens are illiterate and they live below the poverty line which incidentally makes matters worse. Due to their financial crisis or lack of legal knowledge they are often precluded to access justice. In recognizing the legal aid as a right, the government has enacted some laws. However, unfortunately those laws are full of weaknesses, loopholes, and procedural complexities which have to be judiciously addressed in the proper legal perspectives. As a matter of fact, legally speaking, much has been said and done, but ironically not much has been practiced. Due to these ever unsettling defects, the ultimate objectives of those laws have frequently failed to ensure enjoyment of the legal aid services among the vulnerable sectors of the society. In this research, an attempt has been made to analyze and find out numerous legal the gaps, loopholes and complexities of the existing laws relating to legal aid services in Bangladesh and frame out a comprehensive solution for ensuring the aid program by adopting the qualitative and the analytical research methods.

scholarly journals Searching for Solid Ground in Polish-American Relations in the Second Year of the Trump Administration

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bohdan Szklarski ◽  
Piotr Ilowski
Keyword(s):  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
Media Communication ◽  
International Commitments ◽  
Second Year ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Stability ◽  
International Behavior ◽  
Social Media Communication ◽  
New Strategies ◽  
Trump Administration

Since the beginning of the Trump Administration, analysts of American foreign policy have observed several changes in the style substance and style of Washington’s international behavior with regard to both foes and friends. President Trump in his rhetoric (including social media communication) and style represent a disturbing discontinuity, especially for allies that undermines the stability of American international commitments. American allies are forced to develop new strategies for managing this new risk in relations with Washington. This paper examines the tactics employed by the government in Warsaw in that regard.

Electronic Surveillance for the Public Good

2007 ◽  
pp. 100-113
Author(s):  
Liz Lee-Kelley ◽  
Ailsa Kolsaker
Keyword(s):  
Public Good ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Electronic Surveillance ◽  
The Public ◽  
Surveillance Technology ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Relationship

The central government in the UK is determined to employ new surveillance technology to combat the threat of terrorist activities. This chapter contributes to the important debate on the relationship between citizens and the government, by discussing not whether electronic surveillance should be used, but rather, when it is acceptable to the populace. From our analysis, we conclude that a reconciliation of state-interest and self-interest is critical for the success of e-governance; as such, electronic surveillance’s mission has to be about serving the law-abiding majority and their needs, and its scope and benefits must be clearly understood by the visionaries, implementers and the citizenry.

scholarly journals A Starving Revolution: ID Cards and Food Rationing in Bolivarian Venezuela

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 590-595 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose Ragas
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Database System ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Bolivarian Revolution ◽  
Surveillance Technology ◽  
Identity Card ◽  
The Government ◽  
Identity Cards ◽  
Hugo Chavez

In this essay, I examine the controversy around the “Carnet de la Patria,” a national identity card issued in Venezuela in December 2016. I argue that this ID card belongs to a larger project of surveillance and regulation of identity developed by the Bolivarian Revolution and implemented by the late Hugo Chavez and continued by current president Nicolas Maduro. Amid its worst economic crisis, the government claims that the new ID card will allow citizens a better access to goods from supermarkets, replacing the fingerprint system (“captahuella”) that provoked massive protests in 2014. Opponents to this document have highlighted the parallel with the cards that exist in Cuba (“ration books”), and the manipulation of the database system to benefit only those who support the government and are already registered in previous official databases. The Venezuelan case provides an intriguing scenario that defies the regional region addressed to provide personal cards to undocumented groups. It also provides valuable comparative lessons about the re-emergence of surveillance technology and identity cards in modern authoritarian regimes.

Recent Public Discourses on Anti-Jewish Violence in Moldovan History, 1991–2019

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-100
Author(s):  
Anastasia Felcher
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Local Media ◽  
Public Recognition ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Government ◽  
Anti Jewish

Abstract Efforts to commemorate the victims of the 1903 Chişinǎu (Kishinev) pogrom and the Holocaust in Bessarabia and Transnistria have achieved varying degrees of success in the Republic of Moldova. Gaining public recognition for these experiences has proven a convoluted process. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the local Community has led an enduring memorialization campaign, which has steadily evolved with the shifting political climate. Though Community representatives have at times had a fraught relationship with Moldovan officials, they have continuously sought official acknowledgment of their efforts. This article analyzes how both the government and the Jewish Community have handled memory in public spaces and the local media of Chişinǎu.

Blurring the Lines

2021 ◽  
pp. 29-54
Author(s):  
Daniel R. Brunstetter
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Just War ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
The State ◽  
Special Forces ◽  
Terrorist Groups ◽  
The Government ◽  
Peace And War ◽  
Clear Line ◽  
Western Democracies

Law enforcement is often seen as the de facto, and relatively pure, alternative to contemporary just war. If we are not at war, then the more restrictive law enforcement is the viable paradigm. This chapter interrogates two assumptions underlying this view. It begins by demystifying the unwritten assumption that the liberal law enforcement paradigm associated with Western democracies is the idealized foil to just war. Using France, whose postcolonial legacy complicates the turn to the Western liberal paradigm as an illuminating case, the chapter explores how domestic warlike violence creates a state of fractured order—the violence and potential for abuses of power that permeate society as the government seeks to balance security and individual rights. The chapter then turns to the transnational context to challenge the view that there exists a clear line between the state of war and the state of peace. Mali serves as a paradigmatic case to illustrate how the effectiveness of law enforcement is curtailed in spaces of contested order where heavily armed terrorist groups challenge the authority of the state, thus prompting a turn to Special Forces and drones to restore order. In both contexts, the chapter identifies a shift away from the restrained norms that typically govern the use of force in law enforcement to more warlike uses of force that blur the lines between peace and war. The chapter concludes with a reflection on how this shift might inform the ethics of limited force, which lies between law enforcement and just war.

Student Politics, National Politics: Mexico’s National Student Union, 1926–1943

2006 ◽  
Vol 62 (04) ◽  
pp. 533-562 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Espinosa
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Private School ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
National Politics ◽  
School Students ◽  
The Government ◽  
Cristero Rebellion ◽  
Del Rio ◽  
Church Affiliation ◽  
The University

In 1926 students enrolled in Mexico City’s exclusive Catholic preparatory schools faced a crisis that threatened to ruin their academic careers. They were in a serious quandary because officials at the government-supported National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) were placing what were viewed as unfair obstacles to their plans of matriculating into the university, thereby threatening the aspirations that these students and their parents had for their futures. Their predicament was directly related to the deteriorating political climate that would soon produce the religious civil war known as the Cristero Rebellion of 1926-1929. These students were being victimized by pro-government UNAM officials because of their Catholic Church affiliation; this at a time that the Church was locked in a bitter struggle with President Plutarco Elías Calles (1924-1928). The heart of the conflict was Calles’s steadfast determination to enforce the anticlerical provisions contained in the Constitution of 1917. This landmark document encapsulated many of the central demands of the men and women who, like President Calles, had fought in the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920). Calles was a dedicated anticlerical who believed that the nation’s social, political, economic, and educational development required a dramatic reduction in the Roman Catholic Church’s influence within Mexican society. By mid 1926 these affected students had organized themselves into a citywide student group, the Union of Private School Students, with the goal of defending themselves from what they perceived to be the arbitrary, ideologically driven actions of university officials. However, the evolution of this nascent student organization changed dramatically when its activities drew the attention and interest of the country’s most important Catholic official, the Archbishop of Mexico José Mora y del Río.

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