1975 AIA building hostage crisis
Encyclopedia
The AIA Building hostage crisis took place at the AIA (American Insurance Associates) Building in Jalan Ampang
Jalan Ampang
Jalan Ampang is a major road in Klang Valley region, Selangor and Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.-Proposal to rename Jalan Ampang to Jalan Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad:...

, Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...

, Malaysia on 5 August 1975. The Japanese Red Army
Japanese Red Army
The was a Communist terrorist group founded by Fusako Shigenobu early in 1971 in Lebanon. It sometimes called itself Arab-JRA after the Lod airport massacre...

 took more than 50 hostages at the AIA building, which housed several embassies. The hostages included the United States consul and the Swedish chargé d'affaires. The gunmen won the release of five imprisoned comrades and flew with them to Libya.

Background

The Japanese Red Army
Japanese Red Army
The was a Communist terrorist group founded by Fusako Shigenobu early in 1971 in Lebanon. It sometimes called itself Arab-JRA after the Lod airport massacre...

 was a militant organisation dedicated to eliminating the Japanese government and monarchy and launching a worldwide revolution. The organisation carried out many attacks and assassinations in the 1970s.

Attacks

The AIA Building in Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...

 used to house the United States and Swedish embassies. 10 people have been running through the Japanese Red Army entered and captured 53 people in it for three days. All the hostages gathered at Level 9 of the AIA Building. They were held hostage for 79 hours. If the claim was not met, all 53 hostages would be killed. Finally, the Japanese government decided to compromise and to send the prisoners from the prison in Japan to Malaysia by using a Japan Airlines
Japan Airlines
is an airline headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan. It is the flag carrier of Japan and its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Tokyo International Airport , as well as Nagoya's Chūbu Centrair International Airport and Osaka's Kansai International Airport...

 plane. The same aircraft was used to bring terrorists to Libya.

As a result of negotiations, JRA successfully obtained the release of five of their leaders imprisoned in Japan and Sweden. They were then flew by a DC-8 aircraft on August 7, 1975 to Libya. The general reputation of then President of Libya, Muammar al-Gaddafi
Muammar al-Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi or "September 1942" 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.He seized power in a...

 supporting the struggle for independence around the world, including the struggle of the PLO demanded the release of captive Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

, Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....

, Moro Movement
Moro Movement
The aim of the Moro Movement of Isatabu, in the Solomon Islands, has been described as “Sai lima horohoro tuali” – “Putting lands together in living as before”...

 in Mindanao
Mindanao
Mindanao is the second largest and easternmost island in the Philippines. It is also the name of one of the three island groups in the country, which consists of the island of Mindanao and smaller surrounding islands. The other two are Luzon and the Visayas. The island of Mindanao is called The...

 and the IRA
Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...

 in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

.

The Malaysian Prime Minister then was Tun Abdul Razak and Chief of Police Tan Sri Mohammed Hanif Omar. Minister Tun Ghazali Shafie
Ghazali Shafie
Tun Muhammad Ghazali Shafie was a Malaysian politician. He served as Foreign Minister and Home Minister during his career....

 is. At that time, Tun Ghazali in Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

, but managed to negotiate with the prisoners. He has been communicating with JRA. He was in the building for three days. U.S. embassy official result was released.

Interchangeable figure in the hostage was the Deputy Minister of Transport Dato 'Ramli Omar and the Ministry Secretary-General Tan Sri Samsuddin Osman Kassim. Two JRA is the escort to Subang Airport. DC8 airplane is ready to wait, which they seized from South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

.

The airplane stopped at Colombo Airport, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

. then stop at Tripoli Airport, Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....

. They arrived in Tripoli
Tripoli
Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...

 on the evening of August 8, 1975. Samsudin Osman Cassim and Ramli Omar to return to Malaysia on August 10, 1975. From the beginning to the end, there is no bloodshed occurred.

Hostages

  • Fredrik Bergenstrahle - Swedish embassy Officer
  • Ulla Odqvist - Secretary of the Embassy of Sweden

Related events

In April 1988, JRA, led by Yu Kikumura
Yu Kikumura
was allegedly a member of the Japanese Red Army, an armed militant organization.Police arrested Kikumura in Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam in 1986 when they found him carrying a bomb in his luggage...

 was arrested with explosives at a New Jersey Turnpike
New Jersey Turnpike
The New Jersey Turnpike is a toll road in New Jersey, maintained by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority. According to the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association, the Turnpike is the nation's sixth-busiest toll road and is among one of the most heavily traveled highways in the United...

, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

. He plans blow Uso club in Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, which killed five people including a woman officer of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

Effects

This crisis is calculated to win the fight organization JRA. An increasing number of seizures occurred after the aircraft. 1970s are the height of the struggle of JRA.

The U.S. embassy moved in a new location at the junction of Jalan Ampang and Jalan Tun Razak in the 1990s.

Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf awarded the Royal Order of the Polar Star to Tan Sri Samsudin Osman Kassim on 16 September 2009, about 34 years later. The award was held since 1748. The award is presented by the Swedish ambassador to Malaysia, HE Helena Sångeland.

Tun Abdul Razak died on January 14, 1976 several months after the event.
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