Nine foreigners and a Malaysian arrested for alleged terrorist activity planned to blow up two places of worship because they felt the government was not doing enough to uphold Islam, a newspaper reported yesterday.
The report in the New Straits Times raises concerns that Islamic extremists may be trying to establish roots in this Muslim-majority country that has been almost entirely free of terrorist violence.
Malaysia’s success in keeping extremism at bay has been attributed to its highly efficient police intelligence force and a population that largely believes in moderate Islam even though some Malaysians have joined the Jemaah Islamiyah, a regional terror group linked to al-Qaeda.
PHOTO: AFP
A police spokesman said he could not comment on the report as he was not privy to such information. Other police officials could not immediately be reached. National police chief Musa Hassan refused to talk when contacted.
Among the 10 people arrested in January was the plot leader, Aiman al-Dakkak, a Syrian university lecturer, who held weekly Islamic classes at a home near Kuala Lumpur. The newspaper said the 45-year-old al-Dakkak was seeking to recruit members for al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah.
The arrests were made public earlier this year, but the Times report reveals details of their alleged activities for the first time.
Activists say the 10 were arrested in January with about 40 others while attending al-Dakkak’s class. The Times said all nine foreigners — four Syrians including al-Dakkak, two Yemenis, two Nigerians and a Jordanian — were deported in April and were detained by their governments.
All others were freed except the Malaysian, a 39-year-old religious teacher, who is under “restricted residence,” meaning he can’t leave his district and has to report to police regularly. He was believed to have financed the group with money he earned from religious lectures, the Times said, quoting unidentified police sources.
The Times quoted its sources as saying that the 10 men targeted the places of worship in northern Penang and central Selangor states. They felt the government was not doing enough to uphold Islam in Malaysia, it said.
The report did not specify what kind of places of worship were targeted. About a third of Malaysians are ethnic Chinese and Indians, who mainly practice Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism.
About 60 percent of the country’s 28 million people are Muslims.
The newspaper said most of the nine foreigners were students at universities there. They came from various backgrounds. Some of their parents are professors, doctors, ambassadors, police officers and lecturers.
They entered Malaysia using student visas and some were sponsored by their governments. Among the courses they registered for were English, Shariah Law, engineering and mass communications, the Times said.
Al-Dakkak, who entered Malaysia on a student visa in 2003, had met al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden several times, the newspaper said, citing intelligence reports.
“Aiman [al-Dakkak] wanted to set up a base here in Malaysia as the country’s geographical location was ideal, and the people here were generally friendly and unsuspecting in nature,” the Times quoted a source as saying.
Two of al-Dakkak’s students have said he did not advocate terrorism. Al-Dakkak studied in Pakistan as a teenager and worked at a Karachi university before moving to Malaysia, his student Muhamad Yunus Zainal Abidin said.
Over the past decade, Malaysian authorities have detained more than 100 militant suspects, most alleged to be members of Jemaah Islamiyah. Authorities have freed many, saying they have been rehabilitated. None was ever charged.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
RELEASE: The move follows Washington’s removal of Havana from its list of terrorism sponsors. Most of the inmates were arrested for taking part in anti-government protests Cuba has freed 127 prisoners, including opposition leader Jose Daniel Ferrer, in a landmark deal with departing US President Joe Biden that has led to emotional reunions across the communist island. Ferrer, 54, is the most high-profile of the prisoners that Cuba began freeing on Wednesday after Biden agreed to remove the country from Washington’s list of terrorism sponsors — part of an eleventh-hour bid to cement his legacy before handing power on Monday to US president-elect Donald Trump. “Thank God we have him home,” Nelva Ortega said of her husband, Ferrer, who has been in and out of prison for the
RSS