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| Southeast Asia |
| Wan Min Wan Mat admits he sent cash to JI |
| 2005-03-23 |
| A former Malaysian university lecturer has admitted he helped finance Islamic militant group Jemaah Islamiah (JI), viewed as the Southeast Asian offshoot of Al Qaeda, a newspaper said on Wednesday. Wan Min Wan Mat, freed from two years' detention this week, told Malaysia's New Straits Times newspaper that he sent $30,500 to senior JI members "to finance operations in Indonesia". He denied specific knowledge of the October, 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people, the paper said, though he is accused of sending money to a fiery Muslim preacher convicted of an "evil conspiracy" to commit the bombings. "It was wrong and I now realise that," said Wan Min, 45, who was pictured relaxing on a couch at a relative's home, arm around the youngest of his six cildren, six-year-old daughter Syafiyyah. "I want to rest for at least two months. After that I will try to look for a job," he added. "I have repented. I know who I am now." Malaysia is keen to show Wan Min, former lecturer at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, is no longer a serious security threat, a clear inference from the New Straits Times article. It has also imposed conditions on his release, which require him to report regularly to the nearest police station. Wan Min is confined to Pasir Mas, a suburb of Kota Baru, the capital of Kelantan, the country's most conservative Muslim state. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |