The New York Times (NYT) has put the spotlight once again on the religious school in infamous village of Memali in the outbacks of Baling, Kedah with the same issue - martyrdom.

A video on a religious teacher Mohd Lotfi who was recently considered killed in Syria by the NYT, showed how revered he was in Memali for what they consider his martyred death and having taken the journey to join the Syrian war.

The video titiled "The jihadist in our family" showed his family members praising Lotfi for leaving everything only to die for Islam and his brother, another religious teacher urging teens to do the same.

It also showed how technology made it easier for Lotfi from Syria, 4,000 miles away, communicate with his family and students to tell of how happy he was there.

Also how the same technology conveyed the death and footage of his corpse.

“A year ago, Mohd Lotfi Ariffin bid his family goodbye and headed for Syria, where he intended to fulfill what he saw as his religious duty fighting President Bashar al-Assad. He left behind his wife, their six children and his job as a religious school teacher here to fight with his fellow Sunnis more than 4,000 miles away.

“Mr Lotfi, 46, was one of a few dozen Malaysians who officials in this moderate Muslim majority country say have traveled to Syria to join militant rebel groups, including the Islamic State, the Nusra Front and Ajnad al-Sham. Security experts estimate that there are more than 18,000 foreign fighters involved in the conflict,” stated NYT.

It also interviewed Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay, the chief of Malaysia’s counterterrorism task force, who explained the reason people like Lotfi make the journey.

Siege on religious school

In 1985, the same religious school made headlines on Oct 19 when government armed forces raided the village and left 14 civilians and four policemen dead.

A team of 200 police officers under orders from the then acting prime minister and Home Minister Musa Hitam laid siege to the religious school occupied by hundreds of people led by their teacher Ibrahim Mahmud a.k.a. Ibrahim Libya (right).

As the incident was following a rift between Umno and PAS, the siege was politicised as the group were also PAS members.

The authorities had wanted to arrest Ibrahim Mahmud under the now defunct Internal Security Act (ISA), which he resisted.

Ibrahim was also accused of harbouring two brothers, Yusof Che Mit and Ramli Che Mit, who were fugitives. Revered by the village folks, who called him Ustaz Ibrahim, they vowed to defend him to the death.

Police detained 159 people, including women and children. Thirty-six persons involved in the incident were arrested under ISA on January 1986 but released months later.

A White Paper on the Memali incident was published by the government in 2014, stating that the incident involved extremists spreading deviationist teachings and disrupt public order.

Former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who initially was believed to be in China at the time, confirmed that he was in Malaysia at the time of the bloody Memali crackdown in 1985 but stressed that the incident took place under Musa’s watch.