Misuari's arrest an example to Islamic states: Malaysia
Misuari's arrest an example to Islamic states: Malaysia
Agencies, Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia cited on Monday its capture of rebel Philippine Muslim leader Nur Misuari as an example to other Islamic countries of how to fight the perceived link between terrorism and Islam.
"When Misuari acted as a terrorist, we acted fast, arrested him and will be sending him back," Defense Minister Najib Razak said at a conference on the role of the media in promoting a more positive understanding of Islam.
Misuari once enjoyed Malaysian support, but has found himself almost friendless here after staging a bloody revolt when it appeared likely he would lose the governorship of a Muslim self- rule area in the mainly-Catholic Philippines.
He was arrested when he fled to Muslim-majority Malaysia's eastern Sabah state on Nov. 24, and the government has offered to deport him back to the Philippines as soon as Manila gives the go-ahead.
Najib said the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States did an injustice to Islam, and the time had now come to correct the false image of a violent religion that was portrayed by a small minority of Muslims.
"We must clearly condemn any actions and violence committed by any party that uses the name of Islam, so that we can project a model of Islam that emphasizes (its) harmonious co-existence with non-Muslims," he said.
"This stand must be very clear from the start so that there is no doubt, which would increase the negative perception."
Najib also urged the media in Muslim countries to help dispel negative perceptions of Islam as its association with terrorism rises in the West after the attacks on the United States.
He said a collective effort should be made to "send the true message of Islam to all, especially western countries".
"Too often, Islam is falsely projected as a religion of the sword, when rightly it is the religion of peace," he said, adding that media organizations in Muslim countries could do their part in dispelling this negative image, as portrayed by the Western media.
Separately, Deputy Foreign Minister Leo Michael Toyad said on Monday the government had no strong evidence connecting an Islamic militant group in Malaysia to militants in the Philippines
Toyad's statement, reported by the national news agency Bernama, appeared at odds with previous government claims about the Malaysian group and the Philippines.
Government documents handed to a court in September allege that the leader of the militant group visited a camp of the Muslim separatists the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in late 1999, to lean how to make bombs.
Toyad's comments come as Malaysia bolsters security along its border with the southern Philippines to prevent a spillover of refugees or fighting between government troops and a Moro rebel splinter group which has killed more than 100 people in the past two weeks.
The splinter group's leader, Nur Misuari, is under arrest in Malaysia. He was picked up off the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah as he fled the fighting. Malaysia says it will deport Misuari.
The government has ordered the imprisonment without trial for at least two years more than a dozen Malaysians it says belong to a local militant group.
Officials allege the group aimed to topple Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's government and to establish a hard-line Islamic state comprised of Malaysia, Indonesia and the southern Philippines island of Mindanao.
Mahathir has said Malaysian militants have links with Afghanistan's Taliban and Osama bin Laden, prime suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
Opposition leaders say the government has produced no evidence to back its claims against the group, and that the arrests are an attempt to discredit a fundamentalist Islamic party by linking it to extremism.
The imprisoned alleged leader of the group, Nik Adli Nik Abdul Aziz, is the son of the spiritual leader of the opposition party.
Prosecution documents handed to a court in northern Kelantan state in September allege that Nik Adli went to Camp Abubakar in Mindanao, the then headquarters of the Muslim separatist group the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.