The authorities have witnessed a 95 percent success rate in the re-integration into society of former militant detainees who have successfully undergone rehabilitation programmes.

“Ninety-five percent of them are considered ‘A’, but I'm going for a 100 percent success,” Special Branch director Mohamad Fuzi Harun said in Kuala Lumpur today.

Fuzi said this in response to a question from Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (UPNM) lecturer Aruna Gopinath at the international conference on deradicalisation and countering violent extremism.

Admitting that there have been cases where former detainees had relapsed, Fuzi, however, said the figure “is very small”.

He added: “We are improving our module to ensure a 100 percent success.

“We need to engage scholars and clerics and we will do so to avoid them from being involved with bad practices, like before.”

70 being held in custody

Meanwhile, Prisons Department’s management director Jamaluddin Saad said the country’s prisons currently have in custody 38 offenders linked to the Islamic State (IS), 30 Sulu fighters and two deviant Islamic followers.

Although the country now has nine centres that can accommodate radicals, Jamaluddin said one centre is needed for hardcore radicals in particular.

On the other hand, several centres are definitely needed to avoid radicalisation among followers, he said.

The rehabilitation programmes are led by the Home Ministry, as well as the Prisons Department and the Royal Malaysia Police.

The module, named ‘Integrated Rehabilitation Module for Detainees’, is currently used by the agencies involved in the rehabilitation programmes.

Consisting of three main phases, inmates are evaluated by the three main agencies.

Emphasis, Jamaluddin said, is on the inmates’ transition back into mainstream society, which is enabled by providing them with ‘proper meaning’ for a new beginning.

“A combination of different kinds of rehabilitation programmes is good for programme enhancement,” he said, citing religious re-education, among others.

Malaysia has been placed on the highest alert level following the terrorist attack in Jakarta two weeks ago.

And in raids across the country since August last year, more than 20 people have been arrested for their suspected links with the IS.