More than 2,000 soldiers are stationed in Kuala Lumpur and another 2,500 are on standby, according to Malaysia’s army, to protect the ASEAN summit meetings following a reported, but unconfirmed, terrorist threat.
Outside the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center, the main venue for the summit, police are posted in tandem with red beret Malaysian paratroopers armed with M4 carbines.
Inside the convention center Friday, Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman, briefing reporters on what ASEAN delegates had discussed so far in their meetings, did not mention terrorism and did not take any questions.
“It’ll be discussed tomorrow by the ministers,” Anifah said in response to a VOA question after he left the conference hall.
U.S. President Barack Obama, one of 18 leaders expected to join the meetings, arrived in Malaysia Friday afternoon after a flight from Manila where he attended the APEC summit.
“There have been reports of imminent terrorist threats in Malaysia,” the country’s police inspector-general Khalid Abu Bakar said in a statement. “I would like to underline that they have yet to be confirmed.”
The statement was released after police confirmed they had circulated an alert about a meeting last Sunday in the southern Philippines autonomous province of Sulu among elements of the so-called Islamic State, the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group and the Moro National Liberation Front.
The communique, issued by Sabah (Malaysia) police, said the militants had dispatched suicide bombers to Sabah and Kuala Lumpur.
In addition to President Obama, leaders from China, India, Japan and Russia are among those scheduled to hold discussions with the heads of government of the 10 ASEAN members, and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
In Malaysia, where the majority of the population is Muslim, the militant jihadi movement has been growing for decades, according to analysts.
Malaysia Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein on Monday noted increased concerns about militants in the region.
“I see certain areas in this region are not being managed well, particularly well, particularly southern Thailand and southern Philippines, not to mention the free movement of peoples and smuggling of weapons,” he said. “These are all issues which need to be taken seriously based on recent developments in Europe and the Middle East.
The Philippines’ Jolo island, in the Sulu archipelago northeast of Malaysia’s Sabah province, is a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf group, known for its bombings and kidnappings of foreigners for ransom.
“I will talk tomorrow about some of the threats, what happened in Paris and to our own Malaysian Bernard Then who was murdered in the most horrific manner,” Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Friday at the opening of the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit.
Authorities on Jolo say a severed head was left in a bag in front of a police station there on Tuesday after Abu Sayyaf claimed to have beheaded Then, an electrical engineer, who was abducted in Sandakan, Sabah in May.
“They have clearly shown their presence in this region and the serious danger they pose,” Foreign Minister Anifah said in brief opening remarks at Friday’s meeting of the ASEAN Political-Security Community Council.
Earlier in the week, Malaysian authorities said they had doubled security for the ASEAN events following the bombings and shootings in Paris by Islamic State terrorists.
The regional fight against terrorism is taking a more prominent place on the agenda for leaders meeting here, as it was at the G-20 and APEC gatherings this past week.
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