Ulu Tiram attack: Suspect’s family held radical beliefs, remanded further, says police chief
The family isolated themselves from the community and three of the four children, including the suspect, did not finish primary school.
Forensic police officers outside Ulu Tiram police station in Johor, Malaysia, where two police officers were killed on May 17, 2024. (Photo: CNA/Zamzahuri Abas)
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JOHOR BAHRU: Five family members of the suspect behind the deadly attack on a police station in Johor Bahru’s Ulu Tiram last week have been remanded further under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (SOSMA), said Malaysia’s police chief Razarudin Husain on Friday (May 24).
The pre-dawn attack last Friday left two cops dead and another injured. The suspect was shot dead during a firefight with the police, and his parents and three siblings have been in custody since last Friday.
SOSMA has been used by Malaysia authorities for internal security issues including public order, acts of terrorism, sabotage and espionage.
Under the Act, the police may detain a person for up to 28 days and bail shall not be granted to those arrested. If charged, the offences will be tried by the High Court.
Extending the five suspects’ detention would give the police more time with investigations, Malaysia's Home Affairs Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said at a separate press conference on Thursday.
Both Mr Saifuddin and Mr Razarudin, who is Inspector-General of Police, shed more light on the alleged attacker and his family.
Mr Razarudin affirmed the alleged attacker’s father is suspected to be a member of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). “That's right, it's under our data and records,” he said.
JI is a group responsible for some of the region’s deadliest terror attacks, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people.
The four children in the family did not finish school – the suspect only studied until primary four, while his younger sister was not sent to school. The eldest sibling, a woman, studied until primary six while the second child, a male, was educated until primary five, said Mr Razarudin.
“The beliefs and ideology within this family are radical,” he added.
Based on police interviews with people from the community and others with JI links, Mr Saifuddin said the family had isolated themselves and held beliefs that had negative implications for others.
“We have established that the family did not mix with the community, and the reason they gave was that they view others as kafir (infidels). So they do not go to the mosque to pray because it was built by the government … and deemed kafir,” said Mr Saifuddin.
“We see this strongly held belief among them that only they are (followers of) Islam, and the rest are infidels … the implication is big because it means the breaking of ties between one another and brings about bad implications to the community and country,” he added.
The incident has triggered speculation over the return of JI because the village where the family lived, Kampung Sungai Tiram, was within 100 metres of the Luqmanul Hakiem religious school or madrasah set up by JI's spiritual leader Abu Bakar Bashir in the early 1990s.
The school was attended by Noordin Muhammad Top, the suspected mastermind of the Jakarta hotel bombings in 2009, as well as another JI militant, Mukhlas, who was part of the 2002 Bali bombings.
Villagers had told CNA that the family was reserved and kept to themselves, but there were no signs they were extremists or terrorists.
Last week, Mr Saifuddin had stressed that the suspect acted as a “lone wolf” and did not have plans to threaten the wider public.
He added that for the case, police had interviewed 46 people who were flagged in their database as persons of interest.
On Thursday, Mr Saifuddin revealed that the two people who were making a police report at the time of the attack were released from custody on Wednesday.
They had been arrested along with the suspect’s family members. Earlier, the police had deemed it “not logical” for them to be reporting an incident which allegedly took place two years ago, implying they might be involved in the attack and served to distract police officers.
