Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR: A cult-like reverence for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis or IS) and its leaders, problems with family and financial difficulties are among the reasons why some Malaysians join the militant group, the home minister said yesterday.

Revealing that the police have arrested 75 people suspected of having links to IS, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said those who were attracted to the group were obsessed with the organisation and its leaders.

“Research from our police and Interpol found that they joined the group not because of ideology but because of obsession,” he told MP Datuk Wan Mohammad Khair-il Anuar Wan Ahmad (BN-Kuala Kangsar) during question time in Parliament yesterday.

Zahid also said those who joined the terrorist organisation were mostly from broken families and had financial problems.

“Although financial difficulties are not the main factor, it is a push and pull factor,” he said.

Rattling off the names of Malaysians who had joined IS and died fighting in Iraq and Syria, Zahid said Putrajaya is in the process of identifying three people who were killed and said to be Malaysians.

He also revealed that six former Internal Security Act detainees, as well as five from Kumpulan Militan Malaysia and one from Jemaah Islamiyah, have also joined IS. He said the steps taken to stop militancy from taking root in the country include close monitoring by police on individuals suspected of being involved in the organisation, as well as having close cooperation with overseas intelligence agencies to exchange information.

He said the government, with the cooperation from NGOs, has various preventive programmes via ceramahs, seminars, khutbah jumaat (Friday sermons), meetings and media to explain genuine jihad, and the dangers of extremism that tilt towards militancy.

Last November, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak proposed that a new law against militancy and terrorism be tabled at the next Parliament session to tackle the dangers posed by Malaysians who return after fighting alongside IS.

In tabling the 19-page White Paper titled “Towards overcoming the threat of Islamic State”, Najib said existing antiterrorism and militancy laws like the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma), Prevention of Crime Act and the Penal Code should be bolstered. — The Malaysian Insider

 

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on April 1, 2015.

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