PUTRAJAYA, April 19 — The government is watching the movements of former National Service (NS) trainees in its fight against militant movement, Islamic State (IS), a federal minister said today.

Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said the country’s intelligence and surveillance agencies are keeping track of the trainees amid concerns of a growing movement of support among Malaysian youth keen on joining the fight in Syria and other IS-controlled regions.

“Yes, we are… intelligence is watching them and this has been ongoing.

“We are not only watching them but everyone,” he told Malay Mail Online when met on the sidelines of the NS Transformation Programme Open Day event here.

Hishammuddin was responding to a question if Putrajaya would be monitoring NS trainees as they have been exposed to the art of combat and are a more viable choice for militancy purposes.

Malaysia has designated IS a terrorist group.

The organisation was formerly known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

On August last year, Hong Kong daily South China Morning Post reported that Malaysian police have revealed that local jihadists who joined IS are now training their sights on Putrajaya.

A senior Malaysian police official was reported as saying that suspected jihadists had planned attacks on entertainment venues in Kuala Lumpur and a Carlsberg factory in Petaling Jaya.

Recently, the novel Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota) Bill was passed without amendment at the Dewan Rakyat at about 2.25am on April 7 after a debate of more than 12 hours.

The Bill aimed at combatting the rise of influence of terrorist outfits such as IS, was passed after the ninth block voting, with the final voting favouring the government when 79 MPs from Barisan Nasional (BN) supported the Bill while 64 MP from PR rejected it.

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak tabled a 19-page White Paper document entitled “Addressing the threat of Islamic State” in which he had outlined the history of IS, the threat the group poses and the impact it has on Malaysians as well as the danger in allowing its skewed Islamic teachings and practice of violence to spread in Malaysia.

The White Paper noted that the call for jihad by the IS militant group is very powerful because it is based on a skewed Islamic teaching.

It added that Malaysians are attracted to join IS because some believe that their participation in the Syrian conflict is the path to martyrdom.

So far, in Malaysia, a total of 173 Malaysians have been arrested for joining IS and the youngest recruit (to date) was a 14-year-old girl.