THE Europeans have got it wrong in thinking the terrorist threat can be contained by taking a localised, kid-gloved approach.

What the world is grappling with now is a new, globalised menace, one that has to be fought jointly by developed countries and moderate Muslims, Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew said in an interview with Newsweek.

'The Europeans underestimate the problem of Al-Qaeda-style terrorism,' he said. 'They compare it to their own many experiences with terror - the IRA, the Red Brigade, the Baader-Meinhof, ETA. But they are wrong.'

Describing Al-Qaeda-style terrorism as 'new and unique', he noted that an event in faraway Morocco was capable of provoking extremist groups in Indonesia.

'There is a shared fanatical zealousness among these different extremists around the world. Many Europeans think they can finesse the problem, that if they don't upset Muslim countries and treat Muslims well, the terrorists won't target them.'

But that is a fallacy, he said, bringing up the terror threat in South-east Asia as a case in point: 'Muslims have prospered here. But still, Muslim terrorism and militancy have infected them.'

He told Newsweek that both Singapore and Thailand had been targeted in recent years, even though neither had mistreated its Muslims...