UNDER THE VERY NOSES OF NAJIB & CO: RISE OF THE ISIS - MALAYSIA ALREADY INFILTRATED?

The Islamic State (IS) or Daesh threat is literally at our doorstep and the radicalisation of our youths is happening. It shudders to think that we are looking at the spread of IS influence in Malaysia and a culture of violence taking root in our society.

Two of our youths had blown themselves up in two separate incidents in Iraq and Syria last week and claimed the lives of 33 others. A 16-year-old IS militant wannabe acted out and held a woman at knife-point in Sungai Petani to prove his worth to a twisted cause.

Eight of our children are being indoctrinated with a brutal ideology and systematically prepared for active combat. If not for the efficient Malaysian police, IS militants would have set up a child terrorist training centre in the country.

The threats Malaysia faces from this growing radicalisation are as real as the IS cases involving Malaysians. They are not a figment of our imagination or some propaganda cooked by the media to condemn the unacceptable ambition of IS.

IS claims to seek the forging of a worldwide brotherhood of piety with total subservience to the Almighty. While many would say religion is of utmost importance, it is ridiculous to take the words of militants who claim to speak of His behalf.

Not everything engaged in the name of religion is righteous. History has taught us that faiths have been prostituted for narrow aims. In all these cases, they used violence in the name of religion when brutality is against what all religions stand for.

Kudos to the Malaysia police for foiling the setting up of IS child camp in our country. Bukit Aman Special Branch director Datuk Seri Mohamad Fuzi Harun did not disclose details of the operation as it could compromise efforts against such operatives when he made the annoucement.

He also revealed that eight Malaysian children are in Syria and Iraq, believed to be between three and seven years old, taken there by their parents who wanted to pass on their militant ideology to their children through such camps.

“The children are recruited with the ultimate intention of them taking over as Daesh leaders in future,” the Malay Mail quoted Mohamad Fuzi as saying.

“We believe the children were given training on simple weapons handling along with religious indoctrination from a very tender age.”

The Straits Times of Singapore reported that some of the young terrorists are believed to already be involved in fighting as they are competent in handling firearms and explosives. Some of the children in ISIS training camps in Iraq and Syria were Indonesians recruited after the 2004 tsunami that hit Aceh.

“Many young children there became orphans overnight. Terrorists from groups such as Jemaah Islamiah and the East Indonesian Mujahideen rounded up these orphans and forced their beliefs down their throats,” Mohamad Fuzi said.

In the case of the IS militant wannabe, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said investigations revealed the youth was influenced by Daesh through the social media and emails and wanted to prove he was capable of such acts by threatening the woman.

“We need to identify who these people (who influenced) are. Investigations have revealed the boy had no intention of hurting the woman but wanted to show that he is a (Daesh) member and is able to do what is requested by the people. The people should know that the threat (from Daesh) is real.”

When MCA President Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai quoted a figure of 50,000 IS sympathisers in the country, citing police intelligence estimate, many of us were sceptical. When it first surfaced that our children could be in IS training camps specially set up to groom child soldiers, we thought it was a little far-fetched.

The IGP is right when he said the people should know the dangers posed by Daesh are real. - http://www.theheatmalaysia.com/