PETALING JAYA, Dec 22 — Shocking revelations have emerged following the recent arrest of seven Islamic State (IS) militants — four foreigners — in raids nationwide.
They include:
• A European, who was arrested in Yemen in 2010 for links with al-Qaeda, entered the country legally as his name was not blacklisted by Interpol.
• Religious authorities are well aware of deviant teachings at Al-Madinah International University (Mediu).
• Public Service Department had barred graduates from joining the civil service.
• Police sources say son of a ranking official at the university is an IS militant.
• Selangor palace had instructed authorities to monitor the university.
Bukit Aman counter terrorism division senior principal assistant director Datuk Ayub Khan Mydin Pitchay said the European was arrested by authorities in Yemen, but not charged for the offence.
“As such, he managed to enter Malaysia as there were no records of him in Interpol’s database,” he said.
“The suspect’s arrival, however, was detected by police. We arrested him over his links with IS and deported him to his country of origin along with two other suspected militants on Nov 22 and 23.”
The two other foreigners were Mediu students who had planned to attack an international school in Kuala Lumpur.
The university had hogged the spotlight as the syllabus, specifically the Aqidah subject in its Islamic Studies course, had apparently promoted extremism.
“Certain topics were related to militant ideologies. The university has been advised to alter their syllabus and teachings, but we found some of it remained the same ... even after assuring us they would make amendments,” he said.
Ayub said the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Jais), Selangor Mufti Department and Higher Education Ministry were investigating the university’s syllabus.
It is learnt the ministry and the religious authorities were scheduled to meet representatives from the university today.
Police sources later revealed the son of a ranking official at the institution was “an IS sympathiser”.
“The son is also believed to be an active IS militant and had visited Malaysia before. He is believed to be in Syria at this point of time,” said a source in the thick of investigations.
Authorities had red flagged the university in the past following the deviant teachings.
Jais confirmed they were investigating the extreme elements of Wahhabism taught at the university.
A Public Service Department source said the university, established in 2006, had a “history of inconsistent religious teachings and extremist doctrine”.
“We refused to recognise their graduates since 2014 over security concerns,” said the source.
“There have been evidence of extremist teachings ... it is unacceptable to have such people as civil servants.”
He said the Selangor palace had told the authorities to monitor the university. This was confirmed by another source close to the palace.
