Probing the mind of the terrorist

A huge gathering of early morning participants waited eagerly outside the ballroom of the Shangri-La in Singapore for the Institute of South East Asian Studies’ annual forum to begin last Tuesday. This moved a key speaker from the United States to remark that it is difficult to get people enthusiastic at 8am back home. 

As the crowd milled, attention was focused on Dr Rohan Gunaratna who was to speak on his pet subject – terrorism. Many walked up just to say hello, others tried to pick his brains on what was new with the world’s most notorious terrorist outfit, the al-Qaeda.