Could Asian jihadists bring terrorism back home?
Islamic State video with Malaysian, Indonesian and Filipino militants sparks fears they may influence copycats across Asia
Malaysian Mohd Rafi Udin, a former taxi driver, had not been seen since 2014 when he left the country to join Islamic State (IS). That was until he appeared last week in an IS propaganda video, alongside an Indonesian and Filipino. They each beheaded a Middle Eastern-looking prisoner. It was the first time Southeast Asian fighters have been filmed carrying out beheadings.
It was a quantum leap in brutality for Southeast Asian fighters, regarded as coming from a gentler culture than their Arab counterparts.
“It was shocking to see Rafi carrying out beheadings. He may be a militant but he is not known to be brutal and cruel,” Ayub Khan Mydin Pitchay, head of counterterrorism of Special Branch, the intelligence arm of the Royal Malaysian Police, told the South China Morning Post.
“For example, when he was arrested in Indonesia for taking part in militant activities, he begged Malaysian officers who visited him to get him out of the Indonesian prison as he could not stand the conditions there,” said Ayub.
“For Rafi to slaughter someone this way shows how drastically he has changed in a short period of time. There is a possibility Rafi was brainwashed to a point where he could behead someone to give him credibility so he could be elected as the head of the Malaysian contingent in Syria.”
