Rohingya easy terror recruits

Mat Sabu: Refugees vulnerable to influence by IS and other groups

KUALA LUMPUR: The displaced Rohingya refugees are vulnerable to being recruited by terrorist groups such as Islamic State, says Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu.

He warned that history could repeat itself when the Palestinian people were displaced from their homes over half a century ago.

“They lost their land and in their desperation to fight and take it back, some Palestinians were radicalised.

“The same can happen to the one million Rohingya refugees stranded in Cox’s Bazar as well as 100,000 of them in Malaysia,” he said after delivering a speech at the International Association for CounterTerrorism and Security Professionals Asean Security Symposium here yesterday.

Mohamad said being a Muslim country and Asean member, Malaysia treated the Rohingya crisis seriously as deviant groups like the IS would exploit the hardships faced by the Rohingya to justify its extremist views among the community.

“We are very concerned that the Rohingya could be manipulated to become suicide bombers or recruit ed into terrorists cells in this region,” he said.

Mohamad said it was no longer a domestic issue with Myanmar as the refugee situation was spilling to neighbouring Asean countries.

“It is an international issue. Asean nations and United Nations need to look into this matter seriously so that the Rohingya are allowed to return to their homes and the rule of law is upheld,” he said.

Bukit Aman Special Branch Counter Terrorism Division head Deputy Comm Datuk Ayob Khan said there were already four cases of IS elements trying to recruit members from the Rohingya community in Malaysia since 2015.

“These are the cases we have detected so far, and we have charged them and deported them,” he said at the symposium, where he is a keynote speaker.

On calls for the repeal of the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) 2012, Ayob said the Malaysian police would find other ways to combat terrorism.

“We (the police) found a way to continue fighting terrorism and extremism after the Internal Security Act was repealed, and we will do so again if Sosma is repealed,” he added.

Ayob said out of the 420 suspected terrorists arrested under Sosma, 185 had been charged in court, of which 148 were convicted and 107 deported. Of the remaining, 33 were held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and 47 under the Prevention of Crime Act 1959.

“Thus, the issue of detention without trial does not arise as the suspects are accorded all legal recourse available in the Malaysian legal system,” he said.

It is an international issue. Asean nations and United Nations need to look into this matter seriously. Mohamad Sabu