KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian students in Syria need not fear long-term detention upon returning, if they not involved with the Islamic State (IS).

Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (pic) reassured Malaysians with a student status in Syria that they could come home, and all they had to do was cooperate with police for questioning.

“The Government, Home Ministry and the police are not that evil to detain them on the long term.

“Police will question them, but they will be free to go once proven that they have had no involvement with militant groups,” he said in response to Datuk Johari Abdul (PKR–Sungai Petani) in Parliament Monday.

Johari had raised fears over Malaysian students in Syria who stayed back to finish their courses even after the Government issued a notice calling for their return when the war began.

In response, Dr Ahmad Zahid expressed hope that the Education Ministry would allow for the students who had not yet finished their studies to complete their education at a Malaysian public university instead.

“The only condition is that the subjects they had taken have credit value, so they can do a credit transfer to finish their chosen courses here,” he said.

The Dewan Rakyat was informed that 63 Malaysians were currently known to be still staying in Syria.

Of these, four were children aged between one and 10, 28 were women aged between 11 and 20, while the rest were men, whose ages went up to 60 years old.-thestar