COMMENT | Last month, the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) arrested five suspected terrorists, among them three foreigners including a former member of the Al Qaeda. They also arrested a woman and a man from Sabah who were involved in terrorist financing. Meanwhile, two months ago, the PDRM detained eight suspected terrorists in Perlis comprising seven foreigners and a Malaysian.

Their aim was to establish a learning centre promoting Salafi Jihadism in Southeast Asia. Last July, the PDRM also arrested another seven suspected terrorists including three Indonesians and a woman who were sending money regularly to Abu Gomez, a Malaysian terrorist in Syria.

According to PDRM, since February 2013 more than 400 suspected terrorists have been arrested including more than 40 women. Recently, the inspector-general of police Mohamad Fuzi Harun stated that a total of 45 foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) have been detained since early this year and most of them are ISIS-linked terrorists. The current pattern of terrorist activities in Malaysia is startling.

The influx of FTFs from various foreign countries is a matter of concern. These FTFs are from Europe, the US, the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia and South East Asia.

In my opinion, Malaysia is becoming a conducive environment or an incubator for terrorist groups like Isis, Al Qaeda, the Abu Sayyaf Group, the Fetullah Terrorist Organisation, the Jammtul Mujahideen, the Lashkar-E-Taiba and other extremist groups who spread their ideology to influence Malaysians to declare war on their own nation. In addition, they also want to recruit locals based on their false religious teachings by declaring the Malaysian democratic system as “toghut”, that is, un-Islamic.

Further, the significant rise of women participation in terrorist activities - especially in financing matters – is evident because they pose less risk. Further, the terrorist groups view the contribution of women highly and they are considered an integral part of terrorist activities now...