Al-Ma'unah is an Islamic sect and spiritual militant group based inMalaysia.[1][2][3] The group was made famous by their audacious raid on 2 July 2000 on a camp ofMalaysian Army Reserve mobilised in the early hours of the morning and stealing weapons from the armory.[2] The group was later cornered in the village of Sauk,Kuala Kangsar,Perak and was involved in a stand-off the against theMalaysian Army andRoyal Malaysian Police forces.[2] The stand-off, known as theSauk Siege, ended whenMalaysian security forces, including the army 22ndGrup Gerak Khas (22nd GGK) and police VAT 69Pasukan Gerakan Khas, stormed the camp in Operation Dawn.[2]
The group's full name wasPersaudaraan Ilmu Dalam Al-Ma’unah (Brotherhood of Inner Power) or Al-Ma'unah in short.[4] The group had a website which explained that Al-Ma'unah was an organisation "involved in the teaching of martial arts particularly the development of one’s inner power and the practice of Islamic traditional medicine".[5] The term "Ma’unah" supposedly means something extraordinary (paranormal) that happens to an ordinary Muslim individual.[5] The group claimed membership of 1000Ikhwan spread throughout Malaysia,Brunei, Singapore,Egypt andSaudi Arabia. Their motto isBerilmu, Beramal, Beriman, Bertaqwa or inArabic:العليم والمؤمن والخيري والتقوى. The motto symbolises their supreme power over the Muslim brotherhood throughout the country and their spirit to defend Islam. Nowadays, it is usually found at the religious school mottos. The sect has been identified as part of theSalafi Movement.[4]
Al-Ma'unah is characterised as asect by the Malaysian authorities and not as arebel orterrorist group likeJemaah Islamiah. But for all the slickness of the two arms heists, the group's previous actions amounted to taking a few pot-shots at aHindu temple atBatu Caves, breweries on the outskirts ofKuala Lumpur, and apower company's electric tower. The Al-Ma'unah case is regarded as an isolated episode in Malaysia.
The leader of the group, Mohamed Amin, was a former army private but also arrested among the 26 in the Sauksiege included aRoyal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) major, an analyst, an insurance agent, a Malaysia France Institute lecturer and an executive withProton. "It shows that how religion is used and manipulated is still a real problem in Malaysia," says Kamarulnizam Abdullah, coordinator of the Strategic and Security Studies Unit at theUniversiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (National University of Malaysia). "The government has to do something". The Malaysian authorities clamped down hard on deviation activities as a result of the Al Ma'unah tragedy.
Police also tightened laws on the sale of police and military uniforms. Those who wanted to trade and produce police and military uniforms and insignias would need a police permit, a condition introduced following the Al-Maunah incident.[6]
Some people believed that the Sauk incident was stage managed by theGovernment of Malaysia under then Prime MinisterMahathir Mohamad. This belief was because of the apparent ease that the Al Ma'unah Group talked their way through the army guards into allowing them into the camp and seizing the arms and ammunition.
This ease projected a "shocking laxity in military discipline and security whereby vast cache of high-calibre weaponry could be robbed from two military camps, as it involves an unacceptable degree of military irresponsibility and negligence", according to thenopposition leaderLim Kit Siang. Kit Siang also questioned the death of the third person, Abdul Halim Ali, one of the gang members.[7]
ThePan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) also through its Secretary-General,Nasharudin Mat Isa, reiterated their belief while refusing to apologise for the accusation of theUnited Malays National Organisation (UMNO) for stage managing the tragedy.[8]
Lim Kit Siang also questioned the Government's action in usingtheInternal Security Act to detain the 27 Al-Ma’unah members arrested at Bukit Jenalik on 6 July 2000 after the five-day arms heists and hostage taking and killings instead of charging them for robbery,kidnapping, firearms and murder is a major and multiple blow to the reputation and credibility of the Police, theAttorney-General, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Prime Minister as its smacks of a “cover-up” operation and will undermine public confidence in theWhite Paper on the Al-Ma’unah arms heists and atrocities.[9] The Al Ma'unah group was later charged under Section 121 of thePenal Code, conviction under which carries with it two penalties in the alternative, death orlife imprisonment, and a third sentence that if the death penalty is not pronounced, aconvicted person shall also be liable to a fine.
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