Country Reports on Terrorism 2012

Countering Terrorist Finance: Malaysia is a member of the Asia/Pacific Group on Money
Laundering, a Financial Action Task Force-style regional body. Malaysia’s Money Service
Business Act of 2011 (MSBA), which took effect on December 1, 2011, was used for
prosecution for the first time on August 10 when a company was charged with operating as a
money-changer without a license. The MSBA represents an improved legislative framework that
criminalized terrorist financing and strengthened the safeguards of the money services industry
(the remittance, money-changing, and wholesale currencies businesses) against
abuses. Compliance with the MSBA is monitored closely by Bank Negara Malaysia. Malaysia
did not prosecute any counterterrorist finance crimes in 2012.
In September, Malaysia’s Compliance Officers' Networking Group organized the fourth
International Conference on Financial Crime and Terrorist Financing, a two-day event. The event
was attended by more than 300 people, including speakers from the U.S. Department of
Treasury, the U.S. Department of State, Homeland Security Investigations, and the FBI. For
further information on money laundering and financial crimes, we refer you to the 2013
International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), Volume 2, Money Laundering and
Financial Crimes: http://www.state.gov/j/inl/rls/nrcrpt/2012/database/index.htm.
Regional and International Cooperation: Malaysia actively participated in ASEAN and the
APEC forum. Malaysian law enforcement officials routinely met with regional counterparts to
discuss counterterrorism issues at meetings such as the Heads of Asian Coast Guard Agencies
Meeting in New Delhi in October, and the ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting on Transnational
Crime in Bangkok in September. The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency hosted boarding
officer training and a Maritime Law Enforcement Commanders’ Forum, funded by the
Department of State’s Export Control and Related Border Security program, to improve
maritime law enforcement collaboration among Gulf of Thailand littoral nations.
Malaysia’s Southeast Asia Regional Center for Counterterrorism (SEARCCT) hosted five
seminars and training events with regional participation, including: a three-day Sub-Regional
Seminar on International Joint Investigations for Southeast Asian States jointly organized by
SEARCCT and the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate with support from
the government of New Zealand; a five-day Regional Aviation Security Seminar in collaboration
with the New Zealand and UK High Commissions; and a four-day seminar on “The Dynamics of
Youth and Terrorism,” attended by 39 participants.
Countering Radicalization and Violent Extremism: Malaysia facilitated talks between the
Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front that resulted in the October
signing of a historic peace framework agreement, an effort which some Malaysian officials have
said was partly intended to reduce the potential for radicalization in a region of the Philippines
that borders Malaysia.
The RMP and the Department of Islamic Development operated a disengagement program for
terrorist suspects who were held under the ISA in Malaysia’s Kamunting Prison. The program
involved religious and social counseling and vocational training. It employed psychologists,
religious scholars, police officers, and family members. A committee evaluated detainees'
progress toward eligibility for release from prison. The committee’s reports were reviewed by a
panel from the detention center and also by the Home Ministry. Upon release, former inmates
were visited by parole officers and continued to face restrictions on their activities, including
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