These agencies are able to check the individuals in the Southeast Asian region who had previously set up the terrorist group called “Katibah Nusantara”, to be despatched outside the Asian region, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said.
Some of these people are in southern Thailand, southern Philippines or Indonesia, he said.
He said they had previously attempted to use Malaysia as the base for moving on to Syria and Iraq.
Zahid, who is also the home minister, said CMC and the other agencies had been able to check this.
He was responding to a newspaper report today that at least 30 foreign fighters prohibited from entering Syria were now in Malaysia.
Dual citizenship
On another matter, Zahid said a Malaysian would automatically lose his Malaysian citizenship if he is found to have dual citizenship.
He said this was stated in the Malaysian constitution whereby a Malaysian would lose his citizenship if he or she were to apply to become a citizen of another country.
“We have to look at the laws of our country, especially the highest legislation which is the federal constitution that only recognises one citizenship for Malaysians.
“If any Malaysian has dual citizenship, he or she will automatically lose the Malaysian citizenship, what more if he or she had applied to be a citizen of another country.”
He said this when asked to comment on the Sarawak assembly disqualifying Pujut assemblyman Dr Ting Tiong Choon of DAP for having Australian citizenship.
He said the decision of the Sarawak assembly could be challenged or brought to court by the relevant political party.
Nevertheless, the federal constitution must be upheld as the leading legal reference and respected by all.
“This is not a question of politicising an issue but a question of principle upheld by the legislative system and the people of Malaysia,” he said.
The Sarawak assembly disqualified Ting as the assemblyman for Pujut on May 12, citing his alleged Australian citizenship.
DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng claimed that the Sarawak assembly had abused its authority by disqualifying Ting, and that the matter would be brought to court.