Malaysia closes Saudi anti-terrorism centre

Malaysia’s new government run by Prime Minister Mahathir Bin Mohamad has closed Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Centre for International Peace (KSCIP) amid changing dynamics with the Kingdom.

Mohamad Sabu, Malaysia’s defence minister, didn’t give any reason behind the closure, but it will be replaced by the Malaysian Institute of Defence and Security according to Al Jazeera. The centre was set up to tackle the spread of Daesh’s ideology and run de-radicalisation programmes.

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud inaugurated the centre 13 months ago in Kuala Lumpur, though was waiting confirmation to go ahead with building a permanent office in Putrajaya.

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In a press conference in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, former Malaysian prime minister, Najib Razak said: “It’s not something we planned. It was planned by the Saudi government, by King Salman himself. That’s why it was named after him”.

“They chose Malaysia, compared to many other nations. So we are rejecting help from Saudi, a nation that has a very good relationship with Malaysia,” Najib continued.

The move is likely to spark diplomatic confrontations with Saudi Arabia.

Malaysia has also recently ordered its troops based in Saudi Arabia to pull-out. At the time, Sabu claimed Malaysia’s presence in Saudi bases “indirectly entraps Malaysia in Middle East conflicts”.