SCUM OF THE WEEK: AMROZI

Introducing a new feature to this blog - scum of the week. With no shortage of candidates, the decision was difficult, but after reading today's Sydney Morning Herald, my mind was made up.

This week's winner is accused Bali bomber Amrozi:

Accused Bali bomber Amrozi said yesterday he was not afraid of dying and was looking forward to becoming a martyr.

Despite almost certainly facing a death sentence next week for his part in the Kuta nightclub attacks, he joked, laughed and sang songs about future terrorist acts.

"Even though I will soon be dead, our mission will be continued by our children and grandchildren," he told Australian journalists from his cell, waving his arms around in apparent delight at the attention.

"It will never stop. There will be a million more like me who will follow . . . Their name will not be the same as mine, but they will behave the same as me. And the smile, that too will probably be different from mine."

Not once did he show remorse, laughing aloud when asked if he wanted to pass on a message to the families of victims killed in the October 12 attacks.

Sporting a new green and white Muslim hat, knitted by his wife for judgement day, he strolled barefooted into the prison yard on the outskirts of Denpasar, his arms gripped tightly by police guards. Handcuffed, wearing shorts and a garish T-shirt, Amrozi, 40, the most famous of the bombing suspects, said he had dreamed since childhood of dying as a martyr for Allah.

Asked if he had anything to say to Australian victims, he replied: "They are already dead . . . so how can I possibly say anything to them?"

When asked if he had a message for your his wife, he replied: "Just to be patient. And ask her to pray or me so that I can get a martyr's death. I still want a martyr's death.

"Even though I didn't get a martyr's death in the Bali bombing, if I am released from jail, I will do jihad again." And how about your children who will have no father, he was asked.

"Their future will be determined by Allah," he said, "not humans."

Halfway through the surreal banter, Amrozi burst into song, one of a number of tunes he has penned since being arrested last November. It called for ongoing terrorist acts and vengeance for the oppression of Muslims all over the world.

"This is us, the warriors of Allah," he sang.

"We are not shaken by the death penalty; Always continuing jihad, whatever happens."

It ended: "Get rid of cruel Zionists; Get rid of the Christian filth; Yell to Allah, Alluah Akbar; This is my song."

(Dis)honorable Mention

Donna Lynette Walker comes in a close second, only because she didn't actually kill anyone. Having said that, she is not much further up the food chain than Amrozi.

Ever since Donna Lynette Walker was a child, friends say, she has delighted in disrupting the lives of those around her: she made crank calls in disguised voices, concocted hard-luck stories and conned people out of money.

But even investigators familiar with Walker's record are baffled by what they say was her latest hoax.

Authorities say that last weekend, Walker called the parents of a girl abducted 17 years ago and pretended to be their long-lost daughter. The girl's family members were crushed, her father reduced to tears, when they learned yesterday that it was a lie.

Walker, 35, surrendered today in Topeka, Kansas, where she is believed to live. She has been charged with identity deception and false reporting for committing what police called a "cruel hoax".

Investigators said Walker may have found out details about the case of Shannon Marie Sherrill on the Internet, which contains several Web sites devoted to the girl's abduction. Shannon was six when she vanished in 1986 while playing hide-and-seek near the family's Indiana home.

Walker continued the ruse for days, allegedly calling Shannon's family members, police and the news media to perpetuate the story - often disguising her voice and posing as at least two other people. Investigators believe she even pretended to be the husband of the missing girl.

Now, days into the investigation, police have discovered a disturbing pattern of deceit by Walker.

Court records and interviews indicate she has had brushes with the law in California, Kansas, Virginia and Nebraska involving such offences as making crank calls, reporting a false fire alarm, writing bad checks, making a bomb threat and using stolen credit cards to run up long-distance charges, according to an Indiana State Police affidavit.