Ahmad Zahid said Malaysia, which was chosen as the Regional Digital Counter-Messaging Centre last October, would enhance the ability to detect individuals involved in terrorist attacks if they were sheltered in the country.
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“What happened in Paris can happen anywhere else if our readiness is not at optimum levels”, he said. “If our security authorities do not take the recent developments in Europe and the Middle East into account, we must not imagine that the same fate will not befall us in Malaysia”, he told reporters outside Parliament today.
He said this cooperation was also being done among the 10 Asean nations, but Malaysia was making sure that it was fully committed in intelligence sharing with nations such as the United Kingdom, United States and France, which saw a large scale attack on Friday.
“We will hold firm to our stand regardless of any situation we are facing”, he added.
“We can not bow to them (IS). That is something we can not allow”.
He also said the government would still go ahead with the upcoming Asean summit despite the looming threat on the lives of a few Malaysian leaders, especially given how France was set to go ahead with their planned global climate change summit in Paris at the end of the month.
“Murad said that they wanted to kidnap leaders whom they considered as “tagut” (crossed religious boundaries)”, the official was quoted as saying in the report.
Police officers and army personnel who have been supportive of the “tagut” leaders were also targeted, the official said.
“We are the moderate face of Islam which does not represent what the IS stands for”, he said.
“So the quickest way to scare us is to submit to their ideology or do something more drastic and that’s why I mention it this time, to instil a sense of urgency and inform people not to take this lightly”. “We are not only in a state of preparedness but are increasing our strength in terms of manpower”, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said. “All the ten countries of Asean have signed a declaration against IS”.
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He added that he did not know why the country’s leaders and Malaysia were targets, and suggested that it could be due to the nation’s strong stand against the militant group.
