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.