In the beginning, there was a terrorist group called KMM, an acronym for 'Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia'. Though the acronym remained, the full name did not last a week. It was changed it to 'Kumpulan Militan Malaysia'.

The next day, when asked about the real 'meaning' of KMM, Inspector-General of Police Norian Mai insisted that the former was correct. This left everybody confused for several weeks. I still remember how an English tabloid (Sunday edition) dedicated its two precious pages (headline as well as an article by its regular columnist) trying to convince the readers about the danger of KMM.

I browsed through the entire pages to find out if the editor/columnist were articulated enough to give the KMM's full name. I could not find any - just KMM period! The confusion did not end there.

In one edition, Harakah (as confused as others) referred KMM as 'Kumpulan Mujahidin/Militan Malaysia'! Until yesterday (Jan 11, 2002).

The government seems to know everything about KMM: its leader, the members, the networking, the objectives, its Asean counterparts, its connection with Taliban and al-Qaeda, the activities, etc.

And the government will continue to hunt them down - according to PM published in a Japanese newspaper. The strange thing is that the government seems to know everything about KMM except for its real full name!

I also have one mind boggling question to ask: How the name KMM (Kumpulan Militan Malaysia) came about in the first place? To me, it is inconceivable that any group would admit and call themselves 'militants'. As an analogy, I do not think that a propaganda newspaper would call their news media as 'Akhbar Propaganda Malaysia'!

If 'Kumpulan Militan Malaysia' is not the real name given by its so-called members, then who gave that stinger of a name? The government? If so, then what is the real name of the group. A group which has got a leader and many members and with such international connection must naturally has a name.

As a peace loving person, I hope the government can explain this mind-boggling issue. Otherwise, one can expect another public relation disaster on the part of the government.