KL moves against foreign students with ‘link to terrorism’

Two ministries and the Immigration Department of Malaysia will keep up with their cooperation to ensure that visas are not granted to foreign students who are linked to terrorist activities.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh said while his ministry would not issue visas to foreign students, the approval would be done by the home ministry and the immigration department, reports The Star of Malaysia.

“It is done at EMGS (Education Malaysia Global Services) in the presence of Immigration officers. We will continue to work with both parties, including tightening the conditions for granting of visas to curb terrorist activities among foreign students in this country,” he told local reporters on Saturday.

Idris also said the ministry had enhanced the monitoring of Malaysian students overseas to ensure they were not involved in terrorist activities. He did not elaborate.

Last week, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar announced that two foreign students of the Al-Madinah International University in Shah Alam had been detained. They were among seven men arrested between Nov 3 and Dec 16 for alleged terrorist activities.

The students have been expelled and were reported to have been deported. However, the students’ identities of the two foreign students were not disclosed.

Earlier this year, at least two Bangladeshi students, who had been found involved in militant activities, studied at Monash University’s Malaysian campus, according to Bangladesh lawenfocerment agencies.

There is no exact number of the Bangladeshi students in Malaysia but it might be several hundred, sources said.