Press Digest - Non-Muslims warned of IS threat

PETALING JAYA: Bukit Aman Special Branch Counter Terrorism Division principal assistant director Senior Asst Comm Datuk Ayob Khan reminds non-Muslims to take the threats posted by Islamic State (IS) seriously as IS followers have been imbued with the idea that their main enemies are non-Muslims, followed by Muslims who do not agree with their doctrines.
In an interview with Oriental Daily News published today, Ayob said Chinese or Indians in Malaysia should not ignore what is happening in Syria, thinking IS concerns only Muslims and has nothing to do with them.
He said based on intelligence that he obtained, IS is strengthening and recruiting Malaysians who will be brought to Syria to be trained to fight as jihadists there before they are sent back to Malaysia to fight against the government by way of a "jihad".
He said jihadists who return from Syria are extreme in their thinking, with no tolerance for differing ideologies and will get rid of non-Muslims including Christians, Hindus and Buddhists, regardless whether they are Chinese or Indians.
Not only that, they will also kill moderate Muslims who do not agree with what they do, said Ayob.
"From our experience with those (jihadists) we have arrested, we discovered they have such thinking. That is very frightening. Their current means of dealing with their enemies is to behead them."
He said if this is not made known to the public so that they are on their guard, IS's dream of setting up a "Salafi" state in Malaysia will come true in a short time. By then, it will be too late for police to take preventive measures, he said.
Ayob stressed that this is not an exaggeration.
"Malaysians should not ignore IS as the extremist organisation is fast 'poisoning' the thinking of Muslims to turn them into extremists.
"They (IS followers) deem Malaysia as a non-Islamic state. They plan to go to Syria. After fighting there, they will come back to fight the government.
"Non-Muslims will bear the brunt of their attacks. This will happen faster than you think if Malaysians take incidents (of Malaysians joining IS) lightly."
He said the doctrine IS imbued in its followers that non-Muslims can be killed is wrong, as true Muslims are peace-loving and they accept people of other faiths.
He urged the public to help police by providing information regarding activities of IS followers in the countries.