KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 ― Malaysians who went to Syria and Iraq to join global terror group Islamic State (IS) have returned disillusioned after they were tasked with cleaning toilets, Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told the Dewan Rakyat today.

Ahmad Zahid said these Malaysian recruits who returned home expressed “regret” as the situation in IS-held Syria and Iraq was not as rosy in reality.

“They were not involved with bearing arms to the battlefield, they regretted because they are given tasks to clean toilets or sweep rubbish or do other tasks that they do not consider to be for warriors,” he said during Question Time.

Ahmad Zahid also said Malaysians who died while in Iraq and Syria did not die as active participants in battle but were casualties due to their belief they would become martyrs.

“Some of them said the few who died were not involved directly in battle, but when there was explosion, they went to the site of the explosion, they want to mati syahid (die as martyrs), they died in vain,” he said.

Zahid said that these Malaysian returnees had undergone rehabilitation and noted that the Malaysian government has fully deradicalised 97 per cent of them.

The rehabilitation was carried out by the police, the prison department and the Home Ministry, together with the aid of the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) and a few selected non-governmental organisations, he said.

He also said the government has to date nabbed 160 individuals for suspected links to IS.

He said the laws used against them included the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act on 56 individuals, the Prevention of Crime Act and Prevention of Terrorism Act on 29 and 10 suspects respectively.