Tag: Muslim

IS Uses Malay-Language In Push For New Recruits In Southeast Asia

KUALA LUMPUR — The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group is in an “aggressive mode” in reaching out to Malay-speaking communities by making reading materials in the Malay language more accessible online, a move that could have wide-ranging ramifications for countries in South-east Asia.

The Malaysian authorities say ISIS is spreading its propaganda through more “localised news reports” and “articles” that glorify its fighters, especially those from Malaysia and Indonesia who have travelled to Syria to take up arms with the militant group.

These “articles” are uploaded on ISIS websites in Malay, which also share information on ISIS activities in the provinces they conquered.

One of the websites is a portal containing articles taken from the ISIS magazine Dabiq, which are then translated into Bahasa Indonesia and Malay.

Online recruiters in Malaysia and Indonesia also use forums and blogs to reach out to potential recruits.

Malaysia’s top counter-terrorism official, Mr Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay, said the ISIS recruiters would include articles on martyrdom and life in the organisation.

“They feed their sympathisers with fairy tales,” said Mr Ayob.

It is understood that there are currently about six to seven ISIS websites, forums and blogs in Malay.

Mr Ayob said these websites use servers abroad to avoid detection from the authorities in both countries.

The ISIS social-media unit has also taken the initiative to include Malay subtitles in its radio programmes broadcast in English and Arabic through ISIS’ official radio station, Bayan, which was made available on YouTube three months ago.

A check on YouTube, which provides access to recorded ISIS radio programmes, showed that Bayan attracts between 700 and 2,000 visitors.

International Islamic University Malaysia’s Political Science and Islamic Studies lecturer Ahmad Muhammady said the emergence of ISIS websites in Malay indicates an “offensive approach” taken by the terror group.

“Before this, they took a ‘defensive approach’, that is to respond to the accusations made against them, and it was done either in Arabic, English or Indonesian. Now, they changed tact,” Mr Ahmad said.

“To me, it is not surprising. Currently, the term ‘jihad media’ (ilami jihadi) is getting popular among the pro-ISIS chatters. This term is coined … to encourage young people to join the ISIS media team to take an offensive approach against their ‘enemies’.”

Last month, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told a regional security forum in Singapore that South-east Asia is a key recruitment centre for ISIS.

“ISIS has so many Indonesian and Malaysian fighters that they form them into a unit by themselves — the Katibah Nusantara (Malay Archipelago Combat Unit),” said Mr Lee, who also warned that ISIS could establish a base somewhere in the region and pose a “serious threat to the whole of South-east Asia”.

His remarks followed the recent arrests of two self-radicalised Singaporean youths, including M Arifil Azim Putra Norja’i, 19, who had planned intensively to attack key facilities and assassinate government leaders if he was unable to leave Singapore for Syria.

Mr Ahmad said ISIS’ use of Malay-language materials as a recruitment tool was a worrying development for Malaysia. “Currently, there is an increase in interest among youths in rural areas in the east coast, especially among secondary and college students,” he said.

He said the use of Malay as the medium was all about penetrating deeper into Malaysian society.

“Those who are not educated in English still rely on the Malay website as a source of reference.”

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said so far, no ISIS websites in Malay have been shut down.

Its monitoring and enforcement division head Zulkarnain Mohd Yasin said MCMC was aware of the emergence of the ISIS sites.

“So far, we have not blocked any such website, but we did take down a few videos on YouTube,” he told The Malaysian Insider.

Source: www.todayonline.com

June 17, 2015
Atan Flybaits: ‘Freedom of Religion’ Tidak Boleh Dijadikan Dasar Tidak Mengekang Ajaran Sesat Ahmadiya

Kami para admin SMIS Bashir , Osman, Leki dan saya pergi ke MUIS dengan tujuan mendapatkan penjelasa tentang kegiatan pengajaran ugama songsang yang menggunakan label Islam terutama nya Qadiani,

MUIS memang akui mereka bukan Islam, tapi mereka tak boleh ambil tindakan kerana polisi premarital yang mengamal kan sikap ‘ freedom of religion’

Kami tak setuju kerana MUIS ada lah badan ugama yang mentadbir Islam yang paling tinggi di Singapura, jadi mana mana ugama yang menggunakan label Islam adalah di bawah ‘ jurisdiction ‘ MUIS

Tapi mereka lebih penting kan pelajaran dari pada ‘ enforcement’ ia itu mengajar anak anak muda kita supaya mereka cukup di lindungi dari pada ajaran ajaran sesat

Mereka kata program mereka terbukti cukup bagus, kami tanya berapa besar kan ‘ avenue mereka’ dan berapa peratus kah anak anak muda yang sudah mereka rangkum

Mereka kata 8% kami kata IRK telah meringue 100% dari anak anak kita, dan di antara sebab nya IRK di tarik keluar adalah kerana ibu bapa orang orang Taoist komplen kerana anak anak mereka di tarik masuk ke ugama Kristian

Jadi ini bukan masaalah Islam kenapa Islam di hukum kerana kesalahan pendakwah Kristian, kami hanya mahu memastikan anak anak kami di beri pelajaran ugama bagi mendinding mereka dari anasir anasir, ajarang sesat, terorisma dan kelakuan yang membawa kerugian bagi mereka dan keluarga mereka

MUIS juga yakin dengan jalur ini cuma mereka tidak begitu yakin yang mereka boleh melobi kepada pemerintah tentang tujuan ini

Tapi jika rakyat bersungguh sungguh mahu kan IRK di kembali kan kami pasti pemerintah tidak ada pilihan dan terpaksa mendengar kehendak rakyat

Oleh itu kami seru semua para ahli untuk menyokong kami memperjuangkan supaya IRK di kembali kan kepada kurikulum sekolah anak anak kita

Dengan kedatangan orang Filipina yang berwajah melayu tapi berugama kristian, di masa yang akan dating akan membawa satu lagi masaalah jika anak anak kita mengawini mereka dan pegangan ugama anak anak kita tidak sekuat dulu, tentu nya mudah bagi mereka untuk di kristian kan

Oleh itu sokong lah kami untuk membantu anak anak anda dan generasi yang akan datang

Atan Flybaits

Source: Suara Melayu Islam Singapura

June 15, 2015
MENDAKI Spent Almost $80 Million In 2014 To Help Community

Mendaki has spent a record of nearly S$80 million in 2014, revealed Minister-In-Charge of Muslim Affairs Yaacob Ibrahim who is also chairman of Mendaki’s Board of Directors, revealed in an annual general meeting on Saturday (Jun 13).

The fund was to support the community’s development through education.

The Malay self-help group Mendaki also revealed that its total expenditure also increased by 11 per cent over the previous year.

S$32 million was spent on the Tertiary Tuition Fee Subsidy (TFS) to more than 4,100 needy students.

The number of subsidies handed out continued to rise since its revision in 2012 and in 2014, the numbers jumped by 113 per cent.

S$7.7 million was given out as loans to approximately 3,700 recipients under the Student Loan Scheme and S$39 million was used to finance Mendaki’s various activities and programmes to benefit some 75,000 people from the Malay-Muslim community.

The annual general meeting also saw the election of seven new board directors, who will serve the 2015-2017 term.

“These are the achievements that we are proud of and so for this year, we’d like to build upon those foundations and see what more can we do,” said Dr Yaacob. “One of the areas that we are looking into is how to ensure that all our departments support the educational outcome. Secondly, what are the value-added services that we can add on.”

“We are now looking into mentoring as one of the possible steps that we can do within MTS (Mendaki Tuition Scheme).”

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

June 14, 2015
Mohd Khair: Homosexuality Has Never Been Part Of Human Nature

Words pertaining to human lives have specific and special meaning.

Eat: chewing and swallowing non-liquid EDIBLE stuff
Drink: sipping and swallowing liquid EDIBLE stuff

Normal human beings don’t use their mouths to chew and swallow inedible stuff like stones, wood, plastic and all other inedible stuff. We don’t call this act as eating. I don’t know what to call it because human beings don’t eat stones, woods and plastic to live. If they do, probably ravage would be a word that can be considered and definitely that act cannot be said to be an act of eating.

Likewise, normal human beings don’t use their mouths to sip petrol, diesel, acids and all other inedible liquids, including poisons unless they are committing suicide.

Likewise for marriage.

Marriage is a word to describe a union, officiated by an appointed authority, between a man and a woman. A union between a man and a man, or between a woman and another woman, cannot be called marriage.

The human anatomy itself has been created, and has been there since time immemorial to support one of the objects of marriage, and that is to procreate to ensure preservation of the human race. The sexual organs of both males and females play complementing and completing roles in procreation. This is a scientific fact, and not an opinion.

For those who believe in the theory of evolution, probably some pertinent questions to ask would be these:
If indeed homosexuality has been part of human living,
1. “how come the anus has not evolved into an organ that can readily receive the insertion of the penis with ease, without any ill effects as currently reported by the medical fraternity?”
2. “how come the female genitals have not evolved to include a penile-like organ?”

Isn’t it so clear as day and night that even the theory of evolution cannot be applied to homosexuality. The human body has not adapted itself to include homosexual behaviour.

Simply put, homosexuality, LGBTQ whatever included, has never been an acceptable lifestyle choice. It’s a behaviour chosen by those who simply want to defy nature – what men and women are supposed to do to love, marry, procreate and prosper on Earth.

There has been no civilisation in recorded history that made homosexuality mainstream except those that were met with destruction.
Homosexuality is a just a lifestyle choice. It is a chosen behaviour. It is not part of human nature.

Human beings eat and drink edible stuff to live and prosper. No human being in the right frame of mind will take inedible stuff as his or her diet. The consequences are as clear as day and night.

Likewise, marriage among humans means an official union between a man and a woman to ensure the continuity of the human race. It is as clear as day and night what the consequences will be when the institution of marriage is skewed way out of proportion to also include same-gender union. Even an unofficial union between a man and a woman is NOT called marriage. One way, it’s called cohabitation. But the LGBTs, unabashed, called their union marriage…isn’t that shameful?

Source: Mohd Khair

June 14, 2015
ISIS Targeting Indonesia

Indonesia may be declared the next Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) province, said terrorism expert Professor Rohan Gunaratna.

And when an area is declared a “province”, resources including foreign fighters move in and join local groups to impose ISIS’ will – this includes its vision of a caliphate.

ISIS leader Abu Bakar Al-Baghdadi had earlier declared only areas in and around the Middle East such as Sinai, Libya, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Yemen as “provinces”.

Prof Gunaratna of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) said: “There is a misperception that the IS (another name for ISIS) threat is Syria- and Iraq-centric.

“IS is going beyond its core area. It is sprinting while some governments are trying to play catch-up.”

He said there are already several different groups affiliated to ISIS in South-east Asia. (See map on facing page.)

And last year, Malaysian security authorities said four new terror groups were planning to create an Islamic caliphate to rule parts of South-east Asia, including Singapore.

They planned to call it Daulah Islamiah Nusantara and it covers Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, southern Thailand and southern Philippines.

All this makes it clear that ISIS’ aim is not just getting the self-radicalised – like M. Arifil Azim Putra Norja’i, the 19-year-old student who had planned to kill President Tony Tan Keng Yam and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong – to push its agenda.

The big prize is Indonesia as a “province”, and exerting its influence in South-east Asia.

WHAT PROOF IS THERE THAT ISIS IS REACHING INTO INDONESIA?

Foreign fighters, including four Uighur men from Xinjiang province in China, were arrested in Indonesia last year.

There are about 400 Uighurs in Syria fighting for ISIS.

Then there is Santoso, an ambitious, if somewhat inexperienced Indonesian terrorist, as described in an April report by Indonesia-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC).

In 2014, Santoso, head of East Indonesia Mujahedeen (MIT), pledged allegiance to ISIS leader Al-Baghdadi.

He also gave himself the name Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi Al-Indunesi. Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi is the founding father of ISIS, who was killed by the US in 2006.

Santoso had pushed for Poso in Sulawesi to be an IS “province”.

Until recently, Al-Baghdadi ignored regions outside of the Middle East.

But earlier this year, he declared South Asia as an IS “province”, a significant shift.

Describing Santoso as “the greatest threat”, Prof Gunaratna said ISIS now has a global vision and is looking to link up with groups around the world.

ISIS is reaching out to conflict zones in Indonesia and the Philippines and will hijack issues like the expulsion of the Rohingya people, he added,

The four Uighur men had been trying to reach Santoso after a failed attempt to make it to Syria.

HOW BIG A THREAT IS NETWORK IN POSO?

A number of terrorists in Indonesia belonging to Jemaah Islamiah (JI) were killed and captured after the 2002 Bali bombing which claimed 202 lives.

But in 2009, a group under Abu Bakar Bashir, the emir of JI, formed a branch in Poso. The group reached out to former fighters, said Ms Navhat Nuraniyah, an associate research fellow at RSIS.

She told The New Paper the old network was revived and MIT was formed with Santoso as its leader. MIT’s military camp has been running in Poso since 2011.

“Poso has a long history. It dates back to 1998 when a sectarian conflict broke out between Muslims and Christians,” said Ms Navhat.

“JI and other jihadist groups first mobilised their fighters to defend Muslims there, and they subsequently used it as a training ground.”

She added that MIT has carried out small-scale attacks in Poso including a botched suicide bombing and may not be a sophisticated group yet.

“However, IS gave them a new purpose and the situation could change if their members or former students come back from Syria or Iraq,” she said.

They already have the funds.

In 2011, one of Santoso’s supporters, IT expert Rizki Gunawan, hacked a multi-level marketing company website and stole 6 billion rupiah (S$606,000).

Part of the funds was said to have been used in a church bombing that year.

WILL RETURNEES FROM SYRIA POSE THREAT?

Official Indonesian sources say there are about 50 Indonesians fighting in Syria. Australian media has been reporting the figure as closer to 300.

Prof Gunaratna said that like the experience in Afghanistan, returnees will have even greater resolve coupled with battlefield experience.

In February, militants, believed to be returnees, were suspected to have been behind an attempted chlorine bomb attack at a shopping mall in south Jakarta.

Indonesian police said it was the first such attack ever attempted in Indonesia and that it resembled tactics employed by ISIS in Syria and Iraq.

Besides combat experience and deepened ideological commitment, IPAC’s director Sidney Jones reportedly said in March that returnees will also have international connections and legitimacy that could provide leadership for the terrorism network.

Poso (in Sulawesi) has a long history. It dates back to 1998 when a sectarian conflict broke out between Muslims and Christians. JI and other jihadist groups first mobilised their fighters to defend Muslims there, and they subsequently used it as a training ground.

– Ms Navhat Nuraniyah, an associate research fellow at RSIS

There is a misperception that the IS (another name for ISIS) threat is Syria-  and Iraq-centric. IS is going beyond its core area. It is sprinting while some governments are trying to play catch-up.

– Professor Rohan Gunaratna of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS)

HOTLINE

Anyone who knows or suspects that a person is radicalised should promptly call the ISD Counter-Terrorism

Centre’s 24-hour helpline: 1800-2626-473 (1800-2626-ISD).

Bali bombers’ connection

Lamongan is a sleepy town about 50km from Surabaya, Indonesia’s second largest city. It was also the home of Bali bombers and brothers Amrozi, Mukhlas and Ali Imron.

The tiny town’s connection to terrorism has been in the news recently.

In March, two sisters-in-law from Lamongan were deported from Turkey with their children after trying to get to ISIS-controlled Syria.

An April report published by the Indonesia-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) said Lamongan’s extremist community was shaped by Jemaah Islamiah and its satellite school.

Many of the attacks in Indonesia were planned or started in Lamongan, according to the IPAC report.

The report said the Lamongan network also helped present Santoso’s MIT group as being a serious threat.

MEDIA ARM

The report added: “The key to this was providing Santoso with an effective media arm, and the Lamongan network did just this – connecting Santoso first with Al-Qaeda’s Global Islamic Media Front and then with ISIS.

“The objective was to create the illusion, both internationally and at home, that the Indonesian effort was bigger and more significant than it really was.

“The propagandists may have wanted international recognition for Indonesia’s home-grown jihad, but they wanted even more to persuade small-town recruits from other parts of Indonesia that Poso was a war worth fighting.”

Over time, the Lamongan network has also provided recruiters, fighters and propagandists for ISIS.

Following a series of crackdowns, many of the fighters ran to Poso and Santoso, making him Indonesia’s most wanted terrorist.

Source: www.tnp.sg

June 14, 2015