The recent remarks by John Howard probably shook our consciousness on how vulnerable this country is, in view of the alliance formed by various countries. I am sure Australia is being planned as the "deputy sheriff" for Asia and Britain for Europe. US will probably be the "sheriff" for the whole Americas. With that, security and anti-terrorism themes will be used to dominate the world and its economy.

John Howard's outburst is probably being used to test the waters to see which countries will react and unmask the opposition to the appointment of Australia as the official deputy sheriff. Without US support, Australia's tag as deputy sheriff is academic as it has limited military capability and capacity.

The so-called SAS commandos will not be able to stand up to the vast number of local commandos of each country that know their terrains and areas well. It is time Asian countries send a similar message back to Australia that they will also order pre-emptive strikes against Australia since there are some evidence of a Jemaah Islamiaah (JI) camp in the Blue Mountain in New South Wales. A press conference attended by all Asean countries will reinforce such a stand unless some renegade countries actually support Australia's stand quietly. We might as well flush them out.

It's time we relook our national defence and security policies. I am all for military training for the proposed national service to train our kids to deal with weapons, if the need should arise in the future. Howard's laments is timely for us to realise the urgency of such a policy and its quick implementation. We should also look into our arms procurement to keep up with the progress made by others. Such policies will reduce the impact of any pretension of pre-emptive strikes as proposed by Howard. Even a kid knows that a bullet or a bomb does not recognise a John or an Osama. It will also make Howard think thrice before even considering sending a reconnaissance plane.

Secondly, all South East Asian countries have voiced their protest against Australia except Singapore. We all know Singapore share many similar traits with Australia and both are already in bed over trade arrangements. Furthermore, Malaysia and Singapore are still locked in a tit for tat spat over waters.

Should any so-called pre-emptive attacks be launched against Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand or the Philippines, the natural co-ordination centre is Singapore for the Australians. There is a possibility that the Singapore government would take advantage of the situation to gain control of our water.

Such an analogy can be seen in US' persistence to attack Iraq and try to use Qatar and Kuwait as the launch bases. On a similar basis, Singapore 's silence on this matter heightened the suspicion of some behind-the-back consensus on the pre-emptive strikes theme.

Let's get the emotions out now over what Howard had said but sit down and analyse the implications. The days of a sheriff and deputies could be a reality unless countries rally together and put their defence in order. In this globalisation age, governments realise war produces bodybags that carry significant political backlash and disruptions to economies. War is being used as an excuse not just to control terrorists or communists, but the economies too. The theme of pre-emptive strikes could be one such tool.