My Musing: Irony, Danger and Fear

Saturday, July 9, 2016

Irony, Danger and Fear

I believe many of you have woken up to find this message in either your whatsapp inbox or Facebook.

This message which claims that these are confirmed locations where Daish will be striking and had been confirmed by Malaysian Government.

Many concerned individuals shared these with their friends and families.

I just have three comments.

The Irony
It is ironic that many people choose not to believe that Daish had begun their campaign against Malaysia, but choose to believe in this rumour monger.

By saying that this list had been confirmed by Malaysian government, the rumour monger is trying to legitimise his/her rumours to be spread. (HINT: question to be asked when facing this situation where someone is trying to verbally quote another party as source of info, is by asking the person to provide documentary proof that the confirmation did come from Malaysian government. Please note that even tukang sapu sampah tepi jalan with Majlis Perbandaran is technically part of Malaysian government machinery, albeit under local council).

Granted, the rumour may be accurate. (This had since been debunked by Deputy PM, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi and PDRM).

So what is the use of having this list?

The Danger
This list is more dangerous than the terrorist attack itself.

The list will make Malaysians becoming complacent at other locations which can be targeted by terrorists.

Remember, they are not called terrorists for nothing. Their tool is fear. And fear can be created anywhere.

As mentioned in my previous article, you can only be ready to face the threat anywhere at any point of time. That is the only guarantee to your own safety.

For your convenience, I am reproducing this guide here.

Some valuable tips for all. Adapted from the above page.

Learn to make it a habit to identify emergency exits of the places you go to. This will help you to move fast instead of panicking. Learn to identify the uniforms used by the security guards of the location.

Photo credit from Securiforce Malaysia
Avoid going to places with large crowd with only one or no emergency escape. A smart terrorist will wait for the targets to come right into his firing view.
Do not hide next to a vehicle or rubbish bin, if possible. Both are favourites to plant Improvised Explosive Device (IED).
Don't be a hero unless you want to be a dead body.

From Daily Mail UK
Do not panic, do not panic and do not panic.
Do not take selfie or wefie. Don't let that urge to selfie or wefie be your last photo.

Selfie lovers be warned.
When exiting from a build-up area, be careful. Do not rush to individuals wearing uniform. Try to identify if the person is an actual security personnel or a bandit wearing security personnel uniform. Read up Oslo attack or Anders Behring Breivik if you want to know more.

Anders Behring Breivik in Norwegian police uniform as he shoots his victims. Photo credit -
If you are sure the person in uniform is a security personnel, do not run towards him. Put your hands up and if he tells you to go on all four, do it. If you rush at the security personnel, he is likely to shoot at you instead. This is likely the same mistake made by pizza maker Saiful Islam Chowkidar, killed in the Dhaka siege. Do not react if the security personnel is rough against you. They're having a hard time to identify who are potential terrorist trying to escape from the cordon.
If you are being asked by first responders, do not share information that you did not observe personally.
Follow the instructions of officers to move to a safe location.
If needed, just leave all your things behind and make sure you did not leave the people under your care.