Author:
Publication: The Times
of India
Date: July 28, 2000
Policemen are being deployed
at mosques in Malaysia to monitor sermons and act against those who try
to incite people, a senior government official said on Thursday.
Officials would keep
a close watch on mosques to ensure that no political speeches were made,
Abdul Hamid Othman, a minister in the Prime Minister's Office, was quoted
as saying by Bernama news agency.
"The government is also
sending police because from the security aspect police have clearer powers,
for example to act on talks deemed provocative under the sedition laws,"
he told local reporters.
The government stepped
up its vigilance at mosques after an Islamic militant group this month
raided two military armories and fought gunbattles with the army and police
in a northern Malaysian jungle.
Authorities say the Al-Ma'unah
cult, which espouses jihad, or holy war, wanted to use the stolen weapons
to create strife in the predominantly Muslim nation and even try to topple
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's secular government.
The cult, led by a former
army private, triggered Malaysia's biggest security scare in decades and
raised fears of Islamic radicalism when members posing as military officers
tricked sentries and entered the armories inside two heavily guarded army
bases on July 2.
The militants stole more
than 100 assault rifles and grenade launchers and tortured and killed two
hostages before surrendering after a four-day standoff against some 1,000
police and troops.
Mahathir has accused
the country's main Islamic opposition group, the Pan-Malaysian Islamic
Party, of fueling Muslim radicalism to gain political mileage and using
mosques to spread its messages. The party has denied links with Al-Ma'unah
and said it is opposed to violence. (AP)
