Exclusive: US, Malaysia and the War Against the Islamic State
It has happened quickly and quietly. But over the past few months, Malaysia has cemented itself as one of the key American partners in the ongoing war on the Islamic State.
Prashanth Parameswaran, The Diplomat
This is not a natural or easy position for the Muslim-majority nation to take. There are significant differences in the counterterrorism approaches Malaysia and the United States adopt, and aspects of American foreign policy in the Middle East – including lingering memories of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan following the September 11 attacks – remain deeply unpopular domestically in Malaysia.
But Kuala Lumpur’s current commitment, which was highlighted recently during U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to the country for the latest round of Asian summitry, reflects the seriousness of the Islamic State threat both generally and for Malaysia in particular.
The Threat
U.S. officials estimate that over 30,000 foreign fighters from 100 countries have now coalesced around Iraq and Syria, about double the number that went into Afghanistan during the 1980s that came from just a handful of nations.
“We’ve never seen anything like this before,” Brett McGurk, the Special Presidential Envoy to the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL, told reporters in a special briefing on the Islamic State on November 20.
Meanwhile, Malaysian officials say they have arrested over 100 citizens suspected of links to the Islamic State, with 39 identified as traveling to the Middle East to join the grouping. Alarmingly, recruits have included not just ordinary citizens, but lecturers, civil servants, and even security forces. With several deadly plots already foiled domestically and reports of militants seeking to unite groups in Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines to form a Southeast Asian branch of the Islamic State, some officials say it is only a matter of time before a major attack occurs.
“I think the Paris situation can also be transplanted here, in Southeast Asia,” Nur Jazlan Mohamed, Malaysia’s deputy home minister, admitted to Reuters in an interview last week, referring to a series of coordinated terror attacks in the French capital on November 13 that killed 130 people.
He was speaking before a series of meetings held in Kuala Lumpur which Malaysia led as this year’s chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Those meetings saw tougher security measures and a heavily armed police presence amid unconfirmed reports of an imminent terrorist threat, with more than 4,500 soldiers deployed or on standby, in addition to thousands of police.
Joining the Global Coalition
On September 29, Malaysia, together with Nigeria and Tunisia, were officially welcomed as the three new members of the now 65-strong, U.S.-led Global Coalition to Counter ISIL amid a summit meeting of the group in New York hosted by U.S. President Barack Obama. That was a significant development as it meant one of Southeast Asia’s three Muslim-majority countries would be part of the Coalition in addition to Singapore (Indonesia and Brunei, the others, have yet to join).
What that exactly entails, however, is less clear. At this point in time, The Diplomat understands from sources familiar with the matter that Malaysia has only been welcomed as an observer and supporter of the coalition. But moving forward, U.S. officials are hoping that Kuala Lumpur will become a member and subsequently a co-lead in one of the five existing coalition working groups, each of which correspond with a particular strategy or approach: political-military; foreign terrorist fighters; counter-finance; stabilization support; and counter-messaging.
For now, Malaysia has determined that it would do best within the counter-messaging group – currently co-led by the United States, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Put simply, counter-messaging seeks to erode ISIL’s appeal by exposing the group’s message of hate and violence while presenting an alternative and inclusive vision of hope for a better future. The idea, the then-special presidential envoy for the Coalition General John R. Allen told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last month, is to “defeat ISIL as an idea.”
