Malaysian militants for Isis recruited through social media, says source

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) forces have mastered social media as their main recruitment tool, enlisting fighters from around the world, including some 40 Malaysians, a local intelligence source said.

A senior Malaysian intelligence official told The Malaysian Insider that social media is the militant group's main channel to recruit Malaysians, “unlike the early 2000s where a lot of recruitment was done through religious schools”.

Many of the 40-odd Malaysians currently fighting alongside Isis forces in the Middle East had been influenced to take up the struggle via social media, the official said, adding that the method could spur others to also join the cause.

Malaysia has arrested 19 militants linked to Isis and is searching for at least five more, officials have said.

Some, like former Kedah PAS Youth information chief Lotfi Ariffin (pic, right) who was killed in Syria, had not only posted his activities with Isis on Facebook, but had posted call-to-action messages, too.

One blog that recently got attention was that of an Islamic State member called "Shams", who claimed to be a 26-year-old woman doctor from Malaysia, who is in Syria using her medical skills to help fighters and who married an Isis fighter.

The intelligence official said that recruitment via social media was a milestone in the evolving world of terrorism.

"We are focusing on it, and I believe that we are as prepared as any organisation can be to deal with the threats," the official said.

The official said while social media had played a prominent role in the Arab Spring, these platforms had created new concerns for security agencies.

"Terrorist groups are adapting their tactics and evolving out of necessity because of far-reaching, multinational counter-terrorism operations abroad," the official said.

"These groups are becoming more adept at making the best use of regional operatives, homegrown terrorists, and communication technologies at hand for a long-lasting terror campaign."

The official said terrorist groups were recruiting, inspiring, and guiding global strategies not just through Internet operations but through more sophisticated communication.

"They are also using an organised, steady infusion of propaganda videos and call-to-action messages circulated via social media platforms, such as blogs, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter."

He told The Malaysian Insider that some youth in Malaysia were being targeted for recruitment via skewed religious interpretations.

"The strategy of bringing like-minded people together via conversational media increases the radicalism of jihadists."

The official said that the role social media played in today’s communications had become much more dynamic.

"For example, one activist in Egypt tweeted about why digital media was so important to the organisation of political unrest.

The official quoted the activist: "We use Facebook to schedule the protests, Twitter to coordinate, and YouTube to tell the world.”

That statement, he said, symbolised the difference between the Internet and social media.

"Social media will come to the radical rather than the radical going to the Internet".

"Aspiring jihadists do not have to leave home to become radicalised or participate in deadly terrorist attacks,” the official added.

"They can become radicalised in small steps without ever having to make the big leap overseas and risk being discovered by intelligence agencies.

"By logging onto Internet forums of unregulated and unrestricted speech, want-to-be jihadists can personally brand themselves as terrorists."

Such people could create a virtual terror cell to share and spread ideological beliefs, raise funds, justify and create motives for violence.

"Constant sharing of information among the various counter-terrorism departments around the world is one of the solutions to tackling this problem," the official added.

Besides the police, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) is also monitoring the social media.

However, MCMC's strategic communication senior director, Sheikh Raffie Abd Rahman, said the commission had so far not received any complaint on this.

“A lot of things are discussed by netizens on social media like Facebook, so it is rather difficult for us to detect anything promoting militancy unless a complaint is lodged with us,” he said.

Last month, The Malaysian Insider reported that Malaysian women are believed to have joined Isis forces to offer what is called "Jihad al-Nikah" or conjugal jihad.

Senior intelligence officials confirmed that three Malaysian women have journeyed to the Middle East to join up with Isis forces. – September 22, 2014.