IS posts video of Malay-speaking child recruits

The Islamic State (IS) has released a video showing its child recruits speaking in the Malay language in an apparent bid by the terrorist group to expand its membership in Southeast Asia, which includes countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, among others.

According to Singapore’s The Straits Times today, the brief two-minute video is the first footage of IS’ armed combat training for children from Southeast Asia that it reportedly hopes will help entice more recruits from the region.

Under the title “Education in The Caliphate”, the video posted last weekend casts a spotlight on the lives of at least 20 boys currently in IS territory, showing them engaging in activities like studying and praying, apart from weapons training.

Jasminder Singh, a Singapore-based research analyst, said there has been a “surge” in Indonesian and Malay-language material posted online by the IS group.

“There have been previous videos featuring Arab and Central Asian children, and it is clear they are now reaching out to target supporters in South-east Asia,” Jasminder, who is attached to Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, told The Straits Times.

Commenting on the video which reportedly ends with gun-firing by a child and carries the message that children will finish off all “oppressors, disbelievers, apostates”, Jasminder was quoted saying: “The message they aim to send is, 'These children will be the next generation of fighters. You can capture us, kill us, we will regenerate, no matter how hard you try.' “

Besides the short video, the IS has also released photos of the Abdullah Azzam academy where students are taught using the Malay language, the Singapore paper said.

The school named after the now-dead Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s mentor Abdullah Azzam was established for the children of IS’ Southeast Asian members, it added.

IS has a unit for the Malay archipelago, which broadly includes Indonesia, east Malaysia, the Philippines, that goes by the name of Katibah Nusantra.

According to The Straits Times, analysts believe the IS academy signalled the expansion of Katibah Nusantra, with research group Barometer Institute’s analyst Robi Sugara saying: “They want to seek financial support, and to attract Indonesians and Malaysians to migrate to the caliphate.”

Last June, the IS group declared a caliphate over territory in its control in parts of Syria and Iraq.

This January, weekly paper New Delhi Times cautioned that Malaysia is now at greater risk of having its youth fall prey to aggressive recruitments by outlawed militant group Islamic State (IS) as the growth of Muslim-dominated politics has allowed more room for “radical Islam” to spread its wings here.

It claimed that IS has succeeded in inspiring home grown militancy in Malaysia, with groups formed to send locals to join the fight in Syria with an eye on forming an Islamic caliphate in Southeast Asia — spanning Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, southern Philippines and southern Thailand.

Last year, Putrajaya tabled a rare White Paper document entitled “Addressing the threat of Islamic State” and mooted a new anti-terrorism law.

In the 19-page White Paper on IS, 39 Malaysians were said to have already joined militant groups in Syria — with 17 involved in IS, while 22 joined Ajnad al-Sham.

To date, Malaysian police have identified 50 Malaysians who had left for Syria to join the IS, while 70 Malaysians - who were either suspected of planning to join militant groups in Syria or had returned home from such trips ― had been nabbed by the police.