Threat from Daish - Religion or Ideological War?

The rise of a previously obscure militant group that sought to overthrow Syrian President Bashir al Assad were first noted somewhere around September or October 2013.  The then militant group that called itself as ad-Dawlah al-Islāmīyah fī al-‘Irāq wash-Shām (loosely translated to ISIL or Islamic State of Iraq and Levant) was headed by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a man believed to be a former inmate of the infamous Abu Ghraib Prison (he was imprisoned in Camp Bucca, where former interns of Abu Ghraib were placed after the Abu Ghraib scandal was broken to the world.

Back then, the civil war in Syria had worsened and US government had begun to supply weapons to militant groups in Syria that were opposed to Bashar's government.  Apparently, some of the weapons that were supplied by the US were later found to have made their way back to Iraq and were used in several attacks within Iraq itself.  It was only then that the US government realized that the ISIL that they had been supplying weapons to fight the Syrian government were actually the same Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI or Tanzim Qaidat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn).  This was despite the fact that Iraqi military intelligence had warned the Americans of the links between the two groups.

DS Hishammuddin in answering the Q&A session during 3rd National Aspiration and Leadership Symposium

THE Lahad Datu incursion opened the eyes of Malaysians to a threat that most Sabahans had known for years. While it was not a surprise that these terrorists were willing to kill our security forces to achieve their ill intention, the brutality of their actions was unexpected.

However, what they never expected was the strong response that our security forces displayed in defending the honour and sovereignty of our nation.

While Kampung Tanduo has been cleared of terrorists, we must not be lulled into a sense that the crisis is over. We may have won the battle, but the war still goes on.

Before we continue our vigilance against any future intrusion, we should identify who the key players are and how they are reacting to the intrusion.

Known key players today are the Philippine government, MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) under the leadership of Murad Ibrahim, MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front) under the current chairman Muslimin Sema, former MNLF chairman Nur Misuari and Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG).
While there are other groups that have certain level of influence over the population in southern Philippines, most could not muster sufficient force and influence to be considered as key players.
For the sake of simplicity, we will not look into how the current Philippine government and its predecessors weigh in on the issue. Their stance has been consistent, that the Sabah issue is on the backburner and their actions are constrained by the Philippine Constitution which explicitly barred the nation from using war as an instrument of foreign policy.

The same constraint, however, does not apply to the rebels who are the main players in southern Philippines. We will examine them one by one.


NUR MISUARI

He is the founder of MNLF. In 2007, he was accused of terrorism by leading an MNLF unit against a Philippine army installation in Sulu in 2001. To escape the charges, he fled by sea to Sabah, hoping the Malaysian government would empathise with his predicament.

Unfortunately for him, the Malaysian government had him arrested and extradited back to the Philippines. He was subsequently imprisoned and his hold over MNLF began to loosen. In 2008, he lost his position as chairman in MNLF to Muslimin Sema.

At the end of last year, he led a unit of MNLF to attack Abu Sayyaf and rescue several hostages held by them. Apparently, the action was more to regain his former prestige, which could backfire on him.


MILF

On Oct 7 last year, MILF under the leadership of Murad Ibrahim signed a peace agreement with the Philippine government to form the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Established by Hashim Salamat, MILF was previously part of MNLF. Disgusted with the excesses by former chairman and founder Nur Misuari, then the governor of ARMM's first incarnation, they split off and restarted the war against the Philippine government and MNLF. Continuous warring and the fall from grace of Nur Misuari brought them to peace talks.

Knowing that peace can only be achieved by involving all key parties, MILF invited all key parties to the obtain their input for the peace deal. Among the invitees was the so-called sultan, Jamallul Kiram. However, he chose to ignore the peace deal.

Because of Murad's willingness to push for peace in Mindanao, he was given observer status to Umno's general assembly held last year.

As MILF is a key beneficiary of the peace deal, it stands to lose most if Malaysia pulls out from being the facilitator to the peace deal. Thus, it was not surprising that MILF was the first rebel group that declared that it did not support the incursion by the self-proclaimed Royal Sulu Army.
MNLF

While MNLF is no longer the largest rebel group in southern Philippines, it still commands a large combat force. Its forces consist of mainly Tausugs or Suluks.

They benefited the most from the first peace accord signed in 2001  when Nur Misuari was its   chairman. His fall from grace had brought disrepute to the group, but  it has been slowly regaining the respect that it once commanded.

It is believed that MNLF contributed the most to the forces of the so-called sultan Jamalul Kiram in Lahad Datu and Semporna. When Malaysian forces began the offensive action against the ragtag terrorists, there was talk that MNLF forces will try to infiltrate Malaysia to assist their beleaguered brethren. This was until stories of atrocities committed against dead police officers began to filter back to Mindanao.

The MNLF leadership was quick to issue a statement to declare that they disagreed with the incursion and the actions taken by RSA.  This declaration caught Nur Misuari off guard.

ASG shot to prominence in 2001 when it stormed Sipadan and Ligitan Dive Resort and took 21 hostages, mainly tourists and workers on the island.
 
ASG is also a progeny of MNLF.  Now numbering around 500 to 1,000 men, it espouses a firebrand type of Islam. Believed to be linked to al-Qaeda via Jemaah Islamiyah, it is known for its brutality in combat.
 
The group's relationships with other rebels in the region are ambiguous.  It is known to be tolerated by MILF as some of the MILF ground commanders and ASG are related.
 
While the group is still trying to carve an influence for  itself in southern Philippines,  it will more likely not be swayed by the call to arms by Jamalul Kiram III and Nur Misuari.

CONCLUSION

While the last few men of RSA are slowly being hunted by the might of Malaysian army, bonded by the shared bloodline, some Tausugs will still brave the seas that divide the two nations in the false hope that their presence will be able to relieve the pressure on the remnants of RSA. Some will be driven purely by vengeance.

We need to be vigilant towards such attempts. We have succeeded against not one communist insurgency, but two communist insurgencies consisting of four separate groups. We will succeed against this threat from RSA.

While these Tausugs may be  baying for the blood of Malaysians, we should not forget nor question that there are thousands of Tausugs and Suluks who are loyal Malaysians, with many sworn to protect the nation from enemies, domestic and foreign, related by blood or not.

 

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First published on GempurWira Facebook on 11 March 2013 - accessible at the following link -
https://www.facebook.com/Gempurwira2002/posts/405338252896173

Republished by the NST on 14 March 2014 at http://www2.nst.com.my/opinion/columnist/key-players-on-lahad-datu-stage-1.234306.

In honour of those who were killed defending this country during the Lahad Datu crisis:

PDRM
ASP (G/17992) Zulkifli bin Mamat  - VAT69 - KIA 1st March 2013, Kampung Tanduo
Sjn (113088) Sabaruddin bin Daud  - VAT69 - KIA 1st March 2013, Kampung Tanduo
Supt (G/10768) Ibrahim bin Lebar  - Special Branch, Bukit Aman - KIA 3rd March 2013, Kampung Simunul Jaya, Semporna
ASP (G/15053) Michael Padel  - Special Branch, IPD Tawau - KIA 3rd March 2013, Kampung Siminul Jaya, Semporna
Sjn/D (110204) Baharin bin Hamit - Special Branch, IPD Tawau - KIA 3rd March 2013, Kampung Siminul Jaya, Semporna
Sjn (124082) Abdul Azis Sarikon  - 14 Bat PGA - KIA 3rd March 2013, Kampung Siminul Jaya, Semporna
Kpl/S (12675) Salam Togiran - IPD Tawau - KIA 3rd March 2013, Kampung Siminul Jaya, Semporna
L/Kpl (160475) Azrul Tukiran - 14 Bat PGA - KIA 3rd March 2013, Kampung Siminul Jaya, Semporna

ATM
L/Kpl 1163468 Abu Hurairah Ismail - 7 RAMD, KIA 12th March 2013, Sungai Nyamuk
L/Kpl Ahmad Farhan Ruslan - KIA in accident.

* all were posthumously promoted to the next rank.

Time to Use Back Act 82? I think so


When PM Najib Tun Razak announced that the government had agreed to repeal the Internal Security Act 1960 (Act 82), it was seen as a victory for democracy and liberalism in Malaysia. We believed that it was the right step forward towards the creation of a more liberal and mature society. In its place, the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Act 747) was enacted, a so-called more humane law, with controls that prevent the law to be misused for political gain.
In hindsight, the victory was premature. Not that the Government has turned its back against the liberals, but the extremists had used this lack of preventive law as a no-holds barred license to wreck dissent amongst Malaysians.
Pre-2012, we rarely heard or see openly racial taunts, insults against religions, and more worryingly, calls for secessions. Few dared as the preventive law allows the police to recommend to the Home Minister for such persons to be detained under the act.
The painful experience of Sulu terrorists intrusions in Sabah had painted a very bleak picture on the ability of SOSMA to deal with individuals linked to terrorist groups. Of a total of 713 individuals (149 in red zone, balance outside red zone) arrested during the mopping up operations, only 104 were prosecuted under SOSMA.
To rub salt on the wound, it was discovered that many of the former ISA detainees previously arrested for involvement of terrorist activities had reverted back to their old activities. Yazid Sufaat, former Malaysian Army Captain turned Osama’s most trusted biological weapons specialist reverted to his old ways and was arrested in early 2013 for recruiting impressionable Muslim youths to join Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) (now known as Islamic State or IS and was also known as Islamic State of Iraq and Sham or ISIS) to fight the war in Syria against Bashar al Assad’s government. One of his associates, Halimah Hussein escaped police dragnet and is still on the loose.
Further to the discovery of Yazid Sufaat’s return to his old ways, another further revelation was made this year. Soon after Obama’s first presidential visit to Malaysia ended, at least 10 other Malaysians, both males and females were arrested for recruiting Malaysians on behalf of IS/ISIS/ISL (henceforth would be identified only as IS). To-date, around 23 had been arrested for conspiring with international terrorist organization. Another 5 individuals were also arrested during the period, 1 for involvement with al-Shabaab terrorist organization, which is a known al Qaeda-linked organization operating in Somalia, and 4 others were South Asians, believed to be in the midst of planning a bomb attack in India.
Another five individuals, one of them a former UM lecturer, managed to escape arrest and is now on the run.
It was during this period that PDRM via NST had finally confirmed that Jemaah Islamiyah or JI, helmed by the late Dr Azahari Hussin and Noordin Mat Top, had previously planned to attack several locations in KL in 2000, but was foiled by strong police presence and poorly executed plans. Amongst the targeted locations were a restaurant in Jalan Telawi and Bukit Aman. More disturbing was that at least 2 other groups, with core members believed to be former ISA detainees, to have decided to take up the mantle to continue the attack. Both groups were said to be linked to IS.
But the biggest question today is, what are the status of these suspects? Have they been prosecuted in court? Have the police managed to crack the case wide open? Or worse still, have the police been forced to release these suspects due to lack of evidence?
Does SOSMA have teeth strong enough to bite these terrorists? Or is it a leash that only tighten itself around the neck of our officers who valiantly place their lives in danger for our safety? And with that, may be it is time for us to wipe off the dust that had settled on Act 82 and to return it to active use.
No offence to Act 747 supporters. It will work, in a society that is civil, liberal and mature. But we are now facing a very strong threat against way of life, sovereignity and security. And if Uncle Sam choose to establish their PATRIOT Act, and Singapore still maintains their own version of ISA, did we erred in our decision? As the Malay peribahasa has once said, kalau sesat, kembalilah ke pangkal jalan (transliterated as if you are lost, return to the point you began).

An edited version of this article was published by The Star on 18 August 2014 and can be found here:
http://www.thestar.com.my/Opinion/Letters/2014/08/18/Did-we-repeal-ISA-in-a-haste/ 

It can also be found here at DSGC Review.