Police Have Detained 75 Individuals Over IS

KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 (Bernama) -- Police have detained 75 individuals on suspicion of involvement with the Islamic State (IS) to date, said Home Minister Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. He said of the total, 24 were charged in court under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012; six had action taken against them under the Prevention of Crime Act 1959; 25 were freed; seven were still under investigation while 13 foreign nationals were deported. "The government views seriously the IS threat on national security. As such, it has taken several measures to curb IS activities including close monitoring by the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) on those suspected to be involved with IS. "At the same time, PDRM has ties with foreign intelligence agencies specifically in Asean on the activities of the militants," he said when replying to a question from Marcus Mojigoh in the Dewan Rakyat (lower house of Parliament) Tuesday. Ahmad Zahid said the government, with the cooperation of numerous non-government organisations, (NGO) held numerous information programmes as a preventive measure via talks, Friday sermons, meetings, seminars, newspaper and other mediums targeting certain groups to explain real jihad and the danger of extreme ideologies which focused on militant activities. On the Prevention of Terrorism Bill 2015 (POTA) which was tabled in the Dewan Rakyat Monday, Ahmad Zahid urged all Members of Parliament including from the opposition to support it. "I will table POTA again (second reading) on April 6 to explain measures for acceptance by all and don't let there be a differing response, or claims it is a political agenda. The tabling (of the bill) is concerning the issue of violence and is a threat to all, we must be of one heart to oppose it," he said. At the same time, Ahmad Zahid said the government was formulating a specific rehabilitation module to neutralise militants who had been detained. "Our hope is to bring them back to the fold of society," he said, adding that a study by PDRM found six former ISA detainees had joined the IS, five from Kumpulan Militant Malaysia and one from Jemaah Islamiah. He also denied claims that they had the support of political parties. In the meantime, he said, 10 Malaysians involved with militants had been killed, namely six in Syria, one in Iraq and three at undisclosed places, while three others were were killed for giving intelligence information. On the factors of monetary benefits and matters of the heart which spurred involvements in IS, he said an Interpol and PDRM study found it was not based on ideology, but obsession whether towards the organisation or leadership other than due to broken families and financial hardships. Ahmad Zahid said based on investigations on past cases, the social media was also an element which influenced involvement in the militant group. Answering another question from Ramkarpal Singh on the number of cases of sexual violence against children as of Feb 28, Ahmad Zahid said 6,115 cases were reported. "There is a drop in such cases after police organised aggressive campaigns by raising awareness to housewives, primary and secondary school pupils and students and also students of public and private higher institutions of learning under the Women Awareness Campaign," he added. -- BERNAMA