Islamic States’s child fighters video is worrying, say experts

SINGAPORE: Terror experts say the latest propaganda video by the Islamic State showing child fighters from Malaysia and Indonesia firing guns, burning passports and denouncing their citizenships is very disturbing.

Government officials are equally concerned about the IS threat and its intentions in the region.

TODAY reported Singapore Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen as writing on Facebook: “Many of them (the children) should be in school getting a proper education to ensure a bright future.

“Instead they spend their days in training camps, indoctrinated to hate their fellow countrymen in Malaysia and Indonesia, burn their passports as a sign of their allegiance to terror groups like Isis (IS), and drilled to kill innocent lives.”

The report quoted Dr Ng as describing the clip – which named Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as countries which “created trouble” and “damaged” Islamic beliefs – as the first IS video that targeted South-east Asia explicitly. He expects more to come.

The video, titled The Generation of Epic Battles, was released by IS last week.

Narrated in Arabic with subtitles in Bahasa Indonesia, it shows crowds of children clad in combat uniform and headscarves firing weapons and undergoing drills. They are also told to wrestle with one another. Individual children pledge to wage jihad against those who have “changed the laws of God”.

Malaysian Zainuri Kamaruddin, who leads the Malay-speaking IS arm Katibah Nusantara and is wanted by the Malaysian authorities, is also featured in the video. He leads the child fighters in tossing their passports into a bonfire.

Speaking in Malay, he says the “cubs of the caliphate” are preparing themselves to “become the fighters of tomorrow”.

He adds: “To all the governments of Indonesia and Malaysia, we are not your citizens and we rid ourselves of your passport. But know that we will come back with the strength of a mighty force that you cannot fathom, that you cannot defeat. We will now burn these passports as a symbol of our liberation.”

TODAY quoted Nur Diyanah Anwar, a research analyst at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies’ (RSIS) Centre of Excellence for National Security, as saying there had been a recent surge in propaganda materials from IS that had been translated into regional languages such as Malay and Bahasa Indonesia.

“It is clear that IS is placing great focus on Southeast Asia,” she said.

Videos centered on children were a timely reminder that IS operated a “multigenerational campaign” that targeted everyone in society, including children and women, Professor Rohan Gunaratna, who heads the RSIS International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, was quoted as saying.

National University of Singapore political scientist Bilveer Singh was quoted by TODAY as saying the act of burning passports was symbolic of IS followers severing ties with their home countries.