Al-Ma'unah

Al-Ma'unah later surrendered, and the leaders brought to trial for “waging war upon the King.” The Malaysian Government acted against the Al-Ma'unah group only after giving it every chance to surrender and retained public support by giving the Al-Ma'unah members fair trials and re-integrating them into society.[6]

Mohamed Amin Mohamed Razali was the last to surrender. Just before doing so, he grabbed the Malaysian Army Field Commander, Lieutenant General Zaini Mohamad Said by his shirt and tried to shoot him at point-blank range. The General flicked the barrel of Amin's assault rifle and the bullet hit one of the militants. Zaini was later awarded the Seri Pahlawan Gagah Perkasa (S.P.) award for his bravery and contribution in ending the siege without further loss of life.

Lieutenant General Zaini Mohamad Said went up the hill with 43 Army Commando personnel in four armoured personnel carriers followed by 16 infantrymen after Deputy Superintendent of Police, Abd Razak bin Mohd Yusoff, and his VAT 69 Commando team spent two odd hours negotiated and persuaded Amin to surrender. Later, DSP Abd Razak bin Mohd Yusoff informed Zaini that the Al-Ma'unah's group leader has agreed to surrender. When they reached there, about 15 Al-Ma'unah members surrendered the stolen weapons, but refused to give up their parangs which they claimed to be inscribed with Quran verses until relented later. Abd Razak bin Mohd Yusoff was also awarded the Seri Pahlawan Gagah Perkasa for his bravery as a role of mediator in the incident. Razak was the officer-in-charge of the Parachute Branch, Pasukan Gerakan Khas, Royal Malaysian Police.

Three people were killed before the group finally surrendered. Detective Corporal R. Saghadevan of the Special Branch was killed, some claimed he was executed, during the siege. The group also killed an Army commando, Corporal Mathew anak Medan, who was shot by Jemari Jusoh. Both were tortured before they were killed. The third person killed was a group member who was shot and killed when he refused to retreat.[7]

Mohamed Amin Mohamed Razali also sent members to bomb the Anchor and Carlsberg breweries in Petaling Jaya and Shah Alam near Kuala Lumpur and the Hindu temple in Batu Caves. Only minor damage was done. Members of the group, Shahidi and Roslan, later admitted to attacking the Carlsberg brewery on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur with grenade launchers stolen from the army camps.[8]

Mohamed Amin and his group were brought to trial for charges of “waging war against the King,” and became the first people convicted of such offence in Malaysia. Amin and his two lieutenants, Zahit Muslim (ex-police VAT-69 commando) and Jamaluddin Darus, were sentenced to death. Sixteen others were given life sentences.[9] In June 2003, the Federal Court turned down Mohamed Amin's appeal for life imprisonment and confirmed the death sentence on him for waging war against the King.

Megat Mohamed Hanafi Ilias, Muhamad Nukhshah Bandi Che Mansor, Riduan Berahim, Azlan Abdul Ghani, Shahidi Ali and Khairul Anuar Mohamed Ariffin, were sentenced by the High Court to ten years in jail after pleading guilty to treason, a lesser charge. They were originally charged with waging war against the King, an offence that carries the death penalty or life imprisonment.[8] Instead, they accepted a guilty plea in a reduced charge of preparing to wage war against the King, which refers to collecting or attempting to collect men, arms or ammunition with the intention of waging war.

15 Al-Mau'nah detainees were released from the detention of the Internal Security Act (ISA) on 24 November 2003, however the release came with a string of conditions which included restricted residence to a particular district, the need to report to police weekly, and a 9 pm to 6 pm curfew.[10][11]

Mohamed Amin Mohamed Razali, leader of a militant group, was hanged at the Sungai Buloh Prison in Selangor on 4 August 2006, as reported by Bernama news agency. Zahit Muslim, Jamaluddin Darus, and Jemari Jusoh were hanged a week earlier.[12][13]

On Merdeka day 2020, Yang Dipertuan Agong, Sultan Abdullah has granted royal pardon to 13 Al-Maunah convicts as good behaviour in prison.[14]

Al-Ma'unah is characterised as a sect by the Malaysian authorities and not as a rebel or terrorist group like Jemaah Islamiah. But for all the slickness of the two arms heists, the group's previous actions amounted to taking a few pot-shots at a Hindu temple at Batu Caves, breweries on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, and a power 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 Sauk siege included a Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) major, an analyst, an insurance agent, a Malaysia France Institute lecturer and an executive with Proton. "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 the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (National University of Malaysia). "The government has to do something."[7] 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.[15]

Some people believed that the Sauk incident was stage managed by the Government of Malaysia under then Prime Minister Mahathir 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 then opposition leader Lim Kit Siang. Kit Siang also questioned the death of the third person, Abdul Halim Ali, one of the gang members.[16]

The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) also through its Secretary-General, Nasharudin Mat Isa, reiterated their belief while refusing to apologise for the accusation of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) for stage managing the tragedy.[17]

Lim Kit Siang also questioned the Government's action in using the Internal 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, the Attorney-General, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Prime Minister as its smacks of a “cover-up” operation and will undermine public confidence in the White Paper on the Al-Ma’unah arms heists and atrocities.[18] The Al Ma'unah group was later charged under Section 121 of the Penal Code, conviction under which carries with it two penalties in the alternative, death or life imprisonment, and a third sentence that if the death penalty is not pronounced, a convicted person shall also be liable to a fine.