"In Malaysia, we have been very successful in our own fight against terrorism. The Communist insurgents whom we defeated practised widespread terrorism. We defeated them, and eradicated terrorism from our country not only by military means, but also by addressing the root causes of the terrorism that plagued Malaysia. Terrorism can never be justified, under any circumstances. However, if we are to prevent it, we must not only hunt down all the terrorists but also remove the root causes that make some people angry and bitter enough to commit or support acts of terror. By addressing the grievances of our Chinese community, from which most of the terrorists sprang, we were able to put an end to terrorism in Malaysia. Recently, Malaysia has had to deal with another source of terrorism; extremist Muslim groups who claim that our government is not Islamic and want to replace it with a Taliban-style state spanning Malaysia, Indonesia and the southern Philippines. They are opposed by the overwhelming majority of Malaysians, including Muslim Malaysians, who want to preserve our democratic, multi-religious, multi-ethnic and multi- cultural society and the spirit of religious and ethnic tolerance that underlies it. Malaysians want to preserve our commitment to modernisation, development, and openness to the outside world, which have played such an important role in our unprecedented economic growth and prosperity over the past two decades. We studied the causes for extremism among Muslims and their resort to terror but found that they were mislead by the situation in other Islamic countries and their wrong perceptions of Islam. We have taken measures to ensure the spread of the true teachings of Islam as espoused by the majority of Malaysian Muslims. Fundamental Islam proscribes suicides and the killing of innocent people and Muslims should not resort to indiscriminate violence, but should seek peace instead. As to the situations in other Muslim countries, in Palestine for example we will try to alleviate them, to help overcome their problems. Accordingly we have been able to act against the would be terrorists in accordance with our laws with the full support of our people. We are firm when dealing with terrorists whether they be Chinese, Indians or Malays, Muslims or non- Muslims. If anyone plots terror in Malaysia he will be arrested under the laws of the country. As one of your newsmagazines recently wrote, Kuala Lumpur is a modern and attractive city, an outstanding place to do business, but also to rest and relax. But this is not so for terrorists. We do not tolerate their presence. We give them no rest, no quarter, and no place to hide. We have adequate laws and capacity to deal with such threats. And we have had much experience in this field."