Mas Selamat Kastari (center), who was arrested in Skudai, Johor last month, is being held for two years under the Malaysia's Internal Security Act (ISA). --ST PHOTO: ABDUL AZIZ HUSSIN
PUTRAJAYA - MAS Selamat Kastari, one of the region's most wanted terrorists who was recaptured in Johor last month after more than a year on the run, has been detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in Malaysia for two years, Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Wednesday.
Will undergo rehab programme
MAS Selamat would be held at the Kamunting detention centre in Perak, where other ISA detainees - many of them terror suspects - are in custody, according to the official Bernama news agency.
While in Kamunting, he will undergo a rehabilitation programme that includes discussions with religious experts on Islam, Bernama reported, quoting highly placed sources.
The head of the Singapore cell of the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terror network, which is linked to Al-Qaeda, escaped from the Whitley Road Detention Centre in February last year. He was recaptured on April 1.
'He is a threat to national security, that is why he is under arrest. Obviously, he is a threat to national security, either to Singapore or to Malaysia, either way,' Datuk Seri Najib told a news conference.
He also said that the Malaysian authorities 'need to know more information' from Mas Selamat.
'For the time being, he will be detained in Malaysia,' the Prime Minister said in response to a question on whether he would be handed over to Singapore.
When asked if it had been a unilateral decision to detain him under the ISA, he said: 'This is Malaysia's decision. But I am sure if he goes to Singapore, he will definitely be detained as well.'
As to whether Singapore had been informed of the Malaysian decision, he said: 'The authorities are in close contact with one another. You have to ask the police whether they have informed their counterparts.'
Under the ISA, a person may be detained by the police for up to 60 days without trial for an act which 'prejudices the security' of the country.
After 60 days, the detention can be extended for two years, with the approval of the Home Minister. It can then be renewed for successive two-year periods.
