Mat Sabu: Displaced Rohingya refugees may end up being radicalised by terrorist groups

Mohamad Sabu. -Bernama filepic

KUALA LUMPUR: The displaced Rohingya refugee population are vulnerable to being recruited by terrorist groups such as the Islamic State (IS), said Mohamad Sabu.  

The Defence Minister noted that history could repeat itself as what happened with the displacement of the Palestinian people over half a century ago.  

“They (the Palestinians) were displaced, and in their desperation to fight back and take back their homeland, some were radicalised.  

“The same can happen to the million Rohingya refugees stranded in Cox’s Bazar (in Bangladesh), as well as 100,000 in Malaysia,” he said to a press conference on Monday (Aug 27).  

He was speaking to the press after giving the opening speech at the inaugural International Association for Counter-terrorism and Security Professionals (IACSP) Asean Security Symposium at a hotel here.  

The annual symposium is being held for the IACSP, which was founded in 1992, to meet the security challenges facing the world in the global era.

Mohamad said Malaysia, being a Muslim country and a member of Asean, takes this crisis seriously as deviant groups like IS will exploit the oppressed conditions faced by the Rohingya community to propagate and justify extremist views.  

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

Mohamad said that the issue is no longer Myanmar's domestic matter as the refugee situation is spilling over to neighbouring countries in Asean.  

“It is an international issue. The Asean nations and United Nations need to look at 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 that there were already four cases of IS 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.