Malaysia is not Myanmar!

Japan is a peace-loving nation with almost zero crime rate. The people of Japan have access to every modern facility and they hardly face poverty or any other basic socio-economic problem. Japan does not believe in interfering in the internal affairs of other countries and in the same vein, no country or a terrorist organization speaks or take hostile actions against Japan. However, since Japan has joined the G7 group, the country has been showing a lot of solidarity with the member countries. Of late, the Japanese government issued an official warning to its citizens travelling in Southeast Asian countries to restrict their movements as it is feared that Japanese citizens in such countries as Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore and Myanmar could be targeted by a terrorist organization. This is perhaps because a country like Japan does not know about the working of the intelligence agencies of Southeast Asian countries, particularly Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore, who are more efficient in taking precautions and necessary measures against potential threats emanating from all possible sources.

In the past, while covering war and terror issues, this scribe came across with some officers of the Japanese intelligence agency and thus have my personal observations and judgments. The way it operates, in my personal opinion, the Japanese intelligence agency does not collect information and intelligence on its own and is mainly assisted by intelligence agencies of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and European countries in the entire process. I think Japan should do its own research, instead of following the advice or information shared by other foreign intelligence agencies. This scribe has been living in Malaysia for almost ten years. It seems to me that the Malaysian Police as well as its intelligence agencies are very professional and are thus highly alert, well-informed, more vigilant and always quick to take actions. Currently, the law and order situation in Malaysia is much better than many other Western countries. Honestly speaking, the security forces of these Southeast Asian countries are playing their due role in maintaining the law and order. Of course, terrorists can possibly target such countries as Myanmar and the Philippines because the law and order situation there is poor and many foreign nationals have already been attacked in those countries in the past. There is no second opinion about the harsh reality that a terrorist organization or criminal elements are able to target foreign nationals in Malaysia too, but the country's security forces are always on the lookout for such people. Hence, the Malaysian Police and intelligence agencies are capable and the Japanese government should not at least mention countries like Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, when issuing warning to Japanese tourists.