I think the US paints the risk of terrorist attacks to its citizens with a very broad brush because it simply does not know what it is supposed to do to advise its citizens on potential dangers it has helped, and continues to help create.

If the US would spend more time minding its own business rather than inserting itself so often into the business of others, maybe the perceived threat from terrorism might not be so high. Many of the US' actions cause danger for all of us living and working in any country.

I am an expatriate living and working in Malaysia. For over 18 years I have lived in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur traveling the Asian Pacific Rim and West Asia on business as an individual and on military matters as part of exercises with military contingents.

I have had contacts with other American expatriates and US embassy officials many times in many places. What I find interesting about Americans who work in official capacities overseas is their general fear of the place where they are posted. They live separate lives from the population, possibly because they are so afraid of being compromised in some way that will affect their official status.

They follow stringent rules, exercise extreme caution in everyday matters mandated by official policy, etc. I consider myself lucky to live amongst the normal people of Malaysia. I don't fear them. Nor do I see any reason to be afraid of the people themselves. Other Americans and, indeed, other western expatriates feel safe in Malaysia as well.

Organised violence from those with an axe to grind against the US or other western nations has increased and will be with us for as long as there are those on one side who feel they have to lecture those on the other. The US is playing its part to drive its points home and to a degree affecting the security of all the world's citizens - whether we are in the US or outside.

I guess it is a sign of the times that maybe a peaceful regime change in the US may help resolve. Luckily for all of us, US citizens will have a say on these issues in about 12 months' time.

I do not feel it is fair for the US to issue these warnings on a wholesale basis and target an area such as Sabah. There are many isolated places there that are indeed good targets for those who would attempt to kidnap tourists. They have always been that way and they will always be that way because they are remote.

If the US had a resort island near another country and that island was accessible to potential kidnappers, even the US could not guarantee their citizens' safety on that island unless the authorities were willing to post a platoon of soldiers next to the resort.

The recent attacks in Saudi Arabia show that suicidal attackers are most difficult to deter. The physical limits of protecting civilian installations make it impossible to guarantee safety 100 per cent. It is easier to protect Fort Knox, but no one wants to live in a Fort Knox.

So, let us not kid ourselves about security in Malaysia. Malaysia is very secure. I feel safer here than I might be in my home state of South Carolina. Surely I am safer in Kuala Lumpur than I would be in large cities such as New York, Chicago, Houston, Washington or any other major US city.

Malaysian laws prevent individual ownership of dangerous weapons, a plus in the general direction of guaranteeing safety. The general attitude of Malaysians is far more peaceful than that of Americans who will bristle and fight at the drop of a hat. Any spot as remote as some of the resorts in Sabah will be more risky than others for anything from kidnapping to treatment for an illness or an injury. There is no need to pick on Sabah as a point of warning about individual safety.

Malaysia is correct to reject these warnings. A good response would be for Malaysia to either consider the source and ignore it or point out the dangers to its citizens traveling in the US. There are plenty of examples from individual personal violence by gun toting Americans (and yes, illegal aliens) to policemen chasing speeding cars, stolen cars, etc., and endangering the general population as they indulge in macho adrenalin highs.

US national monuments may also be on the terrorist target list, so don't visit them. A little tit-for-tat exchange here might help highlight the potential dangers that exist in the USA.

I do not feel that the USA has an agenda to create problems for Malaysian tourism. Rather, I feel these warnings are evidence of the helplessness the US feels in confrontational situations that they helped to create with poorly researched foreign policies over the years. The final result is further destabilisation by people who should have more adequately used their good sense and excellent resources long ago in their pursuit of exemplary democracy and freedom.