JI OPS IN M'SIA, S'PORE CLOSELY MONITORED - FORMER JI LEADER

By Mohd Haikal Mohd Isa

JOHOR BAHARU (Malaysia), May 19 (Bernama) -- A former top Jemaah Islamiyah
(JI) leader Tuesday admitted that tight security measures imposed by the
Malaysian and Singaporean authorities had checked the operations of the militant
group in this region.

Mohamad Nasir Abas, former head of the JI Mantiqi 3 division, said that
since 2001 the authorities of both countries had taken "firm and tight" security
measures against those suspected to be involved in the group.

"The security measures were too tight. Whoever was suspected to be involved
(in the JI group) will be summoned (by the authorities)," the Malaysian now
residing in Indonesia told Bernama when contacted.

Mohamad Nasir said the firm measures imposed by Malaysia had led to the
arrest of Mas Selamat Kastari, head of the Singapore JI "wakalah" (battalion),
in Skudai in Peninsular Malaysia's southern state of Johor, early last month.

As the head of the Mantiqi 3 division, Mohamad Nasir, 40, was once
responsible for the JI operations in Labuan, Sabah, southern Philippines and
Sulawesi (Indonesia).

He was arrested by the Indonesian police in 2003 and later sentenced to 10
months jail.

Now a free man, Mohamad Nasir is assisting the Indonesian authorities,
particularly Detasmen 88, the anti-terrorism unit of the republic, to fight the
JI militant ideology through missionary and propaganda activities.

The JI group, founded by Abu Bakar Baasyir and the late Abdullah Sungkar,
has four Mantiqi divisions, covering operations in Malaysia, Indonesia, the
Philippines and Australia.

Mohamad Nasir's statement dismisses the recent claim by Jakarta-based
terrorism analyst Sidney Jones, from the International Crisis Group (ICG), that
because the base of JI was now very much in Indonesia, not Malaysia, the fact
that Kastari appeared to have been in Malaysia all of this time meant that his
arrest did not reduce the threat.

Singapore started the hunt for Mas Selamat after the Singapore citizen
escaped from the Whitley Road high-security detention centre in February last
year.

Mohamad Nasir said the JI group would appoint someone to replace Mas Selamat
as the head of battalion of the militant group in the republic.

"However, I am not convinced that there will be any JI member who will take
over from him (Mas Selamat) because the security measures in Singapore against
the JI there are very tight," he said.

He said that over the last several years, the republic had dismantled JI
operations there and arrested many JI members.
-- BERNAMA