The self-styled terrorist group Islamic State, or IS, is growing its presence in South-East Asia to make up for losing ground in Iraq and Syria, Ahmad El-Muhammady, an adviser to the Royal Malaysia Police on terrorist detainees, was reported as saying by Channel NewsAsia.

The report said that in May, officials from the US Department of Defence said that IS had lost about 45 percent of the territory it claimed in Iraq and about 10 percent of the land it held in Syria.

“The area controlled by IS is shrinking and this has a psychological impact on them. Even among cyber troopers, they ask questions about what’s going on now,” Channel NewsAsia quoted Ahmad, who is also a lecturer at Universiti Islam Antarabangsa (UIA) Malaysia as saying.

“How does IS maintain the support? They have to go to the second ring of conflict, that is their neighbouring countries, or the third ring of conflict, that is South-East Asia.”

As an adviser to Malaysia’s programme, the report said that Ahmad has interviewed more than 50 terrorist detainees, some as young as 14 years old.

“They would say, ‘I don’t think what I did is wrong.’ Lack of religious knowledge or ignorance about Islam causes them to be unable to differentiate between right and wrong,” Ahmad said.

“It is very essential to focus on educating the Muslim generation with the correct understanding of Islam,” said Ahmad, who remains hopeful that IS can be defeated.

“If the government, individuals and society cooperate with security agencies, and the Muslim intellectuals participate in this, I believe we can reduce the sphere of influence and retake centre-stage,” he said.

The report was part of the full interview with Ahmad in the ‘Conversation With’ programme which will be aired 8.30pm today.

‘Conversation With’ is Channel NewsAsia’s flagship one-on-one interview programme that has run for more than 15 years.

The primetime interview show focuses on one distinguished personality in each episode.

Ahmad made the comments against the backdrop of a spate of recent attacks by IS, also known as Daesh, in the region.

- Bernama