Malaysia Seeks Special Meeting with 4 Neighbors to Discuss IS Threat

BenarNews staff
2017.06.09
Kuala Lumpur
170609-my-hishammuddin1000.jpg Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein (third from left) meets with his Philippine counterpart, Delfin Lorenzana, in Cotabato, Philippines, June 9, 2017.
Courtesy of Malaysian Defense Ministry

Malaysia’s defense minister Friday proposed a special meeting with his counterparts from Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand to discuss what he described as a threat to all five countries by the extremist group Islamic State (IS).

Minister Hishammuddin Hussein made the remarks as he visited Mindanao island in the southern Philippines, where he met with his Philippine counterpart, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana. Mindanao is where IS-linked Filipino militant groups, backed by fighters from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and other nations, have been battling Philippine government forces in the besieged city of Marawi for well over two weeks.

In a statement released Friday, Hishammuddin said the five defense ministers should meet as soon as possible to discuss ways to work together to counter a regional threat from IS.

“This is because the five countries directly and indirectly are involved with the Daesh threat,” he said, referring to IS by another name. “This situation must be addressed immediately before they become more aggressive and jeopardize the stability and sovereignty in the region.”

Hishammuddin also expressed his government’s support for Manila’s campaign to dislodge the IS-linked militants from Marawi, where almost 200 people have been killed and tens of thousands of residents uprooted since fighting broke out there on May 23.

“I told Secretary Lorenzana that Malaysia takes seriously and does not compromise with such kind of violent threat,” Hishammuddin said. “I hope that fighting in southern Mindanao is coming to an end and stability in the region could be restored.”

“I also share the desire to hold a special meeting with our counterparts from Thailand, Singapore, Philippines and Indonesia in the near future,” he said, explaining that the meeting would discuss strategies and methods to combat militant groups in the region.

While officials in the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore have openly talked about a threat to their national security posed by IS militants and sympathizers, Thailand’s junta-led government has never said such a threat exists in the Buddhist-majority country, where a separatist insurgency is raging in the predominantly Muslim region known as the Deep South.

Citing intelligence reports, Malaysia’s deputy prime minister last month said recent terrorist attacks carried out in southern Thailand, Jakarta and Marawi were all linked to the recent killing in Syria of a Malaysian IS leader, Muhammad Wanndy Bin Mohamed Jedi.

“The Malay-Pattani people in the Deep South do not accept the extremely violent ideology of IS and there are no conditions to join the IS,” a Thai security official posted in the Deep South told BenarNews in May.

New launch date for joint patrols

Hishammuddin made his comments as Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines have been talking for more than a year about joining forces in trilateral patrols to safeguard the Sulu and Sulawesi seas from the threat of piracy and maritime kidnappings.

The launch date for these patrols has previously been delayed, but they will be launched from Tarakan, Indonesia, on June 19, the Malaysian defense minister said in his statement.

For years, the Abu Sayyaf Group, which is based in Mindanao, has been kidnapping and holding hostages for ransom, and executing some of them. In February, the group released a video showing the beheading of a German hostage, Jurgen Kantner, after a deadline for a U.S. $600,000 (2.6 million ringgit) ransom passed.

Last year, ASG militants were also blamed for attacks on ships in waters between Borneo island and the southern Philippines that resulted in abductions of dozens of Indonesian and Malaysian sailors. Most have been released.

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