, 10 Disember 2008 • Kategori: Berita Utama
Will dampen confidence of int’l community, raise questions on Hindraf 5
The Barisan Nasional government has quietly released more than a dozenextremists linked to the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terror organisation, including Malaysian Yazid Sufaat, who is believed to have abetted the Sept 11 attacks in New York.
Inspector General of Police Musa Hassan confirmed a recent news report that Yazid, 44, had been released together with another Malaysian on Nov 24.
The surprise and sudden move - given the recent execution of three Balibombers in Indonesia last month and the heightened fears of reprisal attacks- is bound to spark criticism from both abroad and from within thenation.
“These releases appear to be arbitrary, nobody knows the real rationale,” said PKR Information Chief Tian Chua. “That is not good. It definitely will erode the confidence of the international community for Malaysia.”
“Yes, it will raise some questions about Malaysia’s commitment towardsfighting terrorism,” said a political analyst who requested anonymity.
“Domestically, what civil groups will also want to know is why thesehard-core terrorists were released but our own Hindraf 5, who were justprotesting internal social injustice, are still being detained,” the analyst added.
The Hindraf 5 refer to five Hindu Rights Action Force leaders who werearrested under the oppressive Internal Security Act, which allows forindefinite detention without trial. They were detained in December last year after leading street protests against the government’s inattention to the Indian community.
But according to the news report in the Singapore Straits Times, Indonesian, Malaysian and Filipino detainees were also released over the past month after a government advisory board at the Kamunting Detention Centre in Perak decided that they were no longer security threats.
Another freed was Thai national, Kasem Dayama, who was arrested in October 2006 for espionage.
Among the detainees released, many knew the Bali bombers well and are known to several JI militants who are still at large, including Noordin Mohammad Top and the Singapore detainee who escaped, Mas Selamat Kastari.
Regional intelligence officials fear that the freed men might still beanti-Western and could easily return to their underground networks in places such as the predominantly Muslim regions of southern Thailand and southern Philippines.
Yazid released ahead of 2010 detention timeline
Nevertheless, a government official insisted that Kuala Lumpur remainedcommitted to the fight against religious extremism, stressing that the men who were released had been rehabilitated after an intensive programme.
“We released him as he had shown remorse and repentance after almost seven years of rehabilitation. He was released on several conditions. He has to report to the police regularly and cannot leave Selangor without policepermission,” said Musa.
“Our officers will also be monitoring him as well as several others who havebeen released over the past years to ensure they do not go back to their old ways.”
Similar conditions are believed to apply to Sabah resident Sulaiman Suramin,who was arrested in 2003 and is also among those just released.
Key figure in the JI
By far the most prominent of the JI suspects released, Yazid was arrested in December 2001 and supposed to be detained until Jan 31, 2010.
He emerged as a key figure in JI’s regional network because of his link to Zacarias Moussaoui, a French citizen of Moroccan descent who was convicted of conspiracy charges in the Sept 11 attacks in New York.
A trained biochemist and former army captain, he emerged as a key figure inJI’s regional network because of his link to Zacarias Moussaoui, a Frenchcitizen of Moroccan descent who was convicted on conspiracy charges in theSept 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
Yazid hosted Moussaoui during his visit to Malaysia in September and October 2000. Eight months earlier, he allowed Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi to use his apartment. They were the two hijackers on board the American Airlines aircraft that crashed into the Pentagon.
The foreign nationals released by the Malaysian government were mainly lowly functionaries of JI, which has ambitions of establishing a pan-Islamic state linking Indonesia, Malaysia and the Muslim southern islands of the Philippines.
The freed foreigners included eight Indonesians who were detained for two days at a West Java detention centre before being allowed to return to their families.
Indonesian and Philippine nationals
The Indonesians include:
Ahmad Zakaria, who was arrested off Sabah in 2004;
Arifin Iwan, who was caught in 2005 en route to the southern Philippines. He had been active in sectarian fighting in Ambon and Poso;
Terhamid Dahlan alias Adi Utomo Sukamto, who was arrested while trying to enter Sabah illegally in 2004;
Zakaria Saman, alias Ahmad Said Maulana, who was arrested in 2003 while returning from south-east Philippines. He fought in Ambon and received his military training in the southern Philippines.
Philippine nationals Shaykinar Guat and Argadi Andoyok were arrested in 2006 off Sabah.
It is not clear whether they have been released since they were handed overto the Philippine authorities.
Thai national Kasem Dayama was also arrested in 2006, but he had no links to JI. Malaysian security officials say he was arrested for spying on southern Thais seeking refuge in Kelantan.
It is believed that there are another 30 suspected JI operatives, a handfulof them foreigners, still in detention at the Kamunting detention centre.
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