Commenting on a warning by an Indonesian think tank that many Southeast Asian Muslims were eager to take up arms against the Myanmar military, Bukit Aman anti-terrorism chief Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay told FMT his department was on the alert for recruitment efforts in Malaysia.
He said it was possible that would-be Malaysian mujahidin were seeing a similarity between the current troubles in Myanmar and the 1999-2002 conflict in Ambon, Indonesia, between Christians and Muslims.
“During the Indonesian conflict, VCDs were distributed throughout Malaysia to recruit people to fight in Ambon,” he said. “It could be the same with the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar.
“We aren’t saying yet that such a recruitment exists, but we will keep monitoring for this new possibility.
“It seems social media is a popular tool to recruit fighters. So we are keeping a close watch over this also.”
He also said police would be vigilant for attempts by pro-Islamic State groups to incite the Rohingya community in Malaysia to return home to fight alongside the insurgents.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have fled Myanmar’s Rakhine state to escape religious persecution and to avoid being trapped in the fighting between government troops and the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (Arsa).
On Wednesday, the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (Ipac) told FMT there was a strong desire among some Southeast Asians to go to Myanmar to fight but they could not find a way of getting to the trouble spots.
“For example, thousands of Indonesians are reported to have signed up through the FPI (Islamic Defenders Front) and other such groups, but they have no channel for getting in,” Ipac director Sydney Jones said.
“Arsa has not indicated that it wants any outside reinforcements. Inexperienced volunteers are likely to be more of a hindrance than a help to them.
“Border officials in Bangladesh and Myanmar are also likely to stop these would-be mujahidin.”
Ipac, in a recent report about Southeast Asian and Bangladeshi extremism, warned of the possibility of pro-Islamic State sympathisers in Southeast Asian countries inciting the Rohingya refugees in their countries to return home to fight the Myanmar military.
Myanmar’s Suu Kyi denounces terrorists, silent on Rohingya exodus