Moving through cyberspace with no clearly defined face or structure, militant group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) represents a far more deadly threat to South-east Asia than Jemaah Islamiah (JI), intelligence officials and analysts say.

ISIS leaders and members come from diverse social and economic backgrounds and age groups, making profiling and detection difficult, unlike the South-east Asian group JI, which is linked to Al-Qaeda.

… Professor Bilveer Singh of the National University of Singapore concurs, saying the current divided political leadership in Malaysia gives ISIS a good opportunity to strike.

“ISIS operates like the Communist Party of Malaysia. The moment it spots a window of opportunity, it will penetrate and exploit it,” he said.

“They (ISIS) have an excellent window with the political leadership divided so badly, (and) the intelligence, military and police agencies diverted and distracted.

“This is a good time to strike, partly as an opportunistic target, partly for revenge for all the ISIS arrests, and partly to respond to (Prime Minister) Najib Razak’s ‘moderate movement’,” said Prof Singh.