Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said a 90-day deadline was set for the KSCIP to begin its operations, right after Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Abdul Aziz Al Saud visited Malaysia three months ago.

Hishammuddin, who is also minister of special functions in the Prime Minister’s Department, said the operations of the KSCIP would involve Islamic scholars, academicians, intelligence agencies and certain centres at the regional and international levels.

“KSCIP will not only focus on military aspects, but also on academic elements, with the main role to combat terrorist threats and the spread of propaganda and ideologies bandied about by the extremists and the terrorists.”

He spoke after presenting 3,000 packs of porridge to defence ministry staff at Wisma Pertahanan here today.

He said the establishment of the KSCIP was closely related to the recent launch of the Global Centre for Combatting Extremist Ideology in Mu’tamarat, Nasiriyah, Riyadh.

The KSCIP is currently operating from a temporary office in Kuala Lumpur.

The centre was initially planned to be officially launched tomorrow by Deputy Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed Salman Al-Saud, but this was postponed to after Aidilfitri for certain reasons.

Meanwhile, when asked on the clash between an armed group and the Philippine army in Marawi, southern Philippines, Hishammuddin said he would seek detailed information on the matter from his Filipino counterpart, Delfin Negrillo Lorenzana.

“Mindef will not take this (clash in Marawi) lightly as it occurred in our neighbouring country and we were not spared from it. So, we will continue working closely with the public who have been our ‘eyes and ears’ to prevent the group from reaching us.”

Prior to this, Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) chief General Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor said they would enhance control at the borders to prevent members of the armed group from escaping to Malaysia.