KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 17 ― The backgrounds of Islamic religious teachers here should be carefully vetted to prevent the spread of the radical ideologies perpetuated by supporters of the Islamic State (IS) terror network, the New Straits Times (NST) said today.

In an editorial piece, NST noted that the recruitment of Malaysians into the ranks of the IS militants group shows a “weakness” that it cautioned could be exploited by a “perverse ideology disguised as Islam”.

“Somehow, some Malaysians seem to have been misled into thinking that the Islam practised in the country is not ‘adequately’ Islamic. As such, teachers of faith must be vetted by religious departments and suitably accredited.

“The proliferation of all manner of Islamic ‘educational’ institutions cannot be left unchecked and licensing them is paramount, while ensuring that nothing of Islam’s greatness is lost in the attempt to divest it of exploitation by the unscrupulous,” the English-language daily’s editors wrote in the piece titled “Taking IS threats seriously”.

“For those wanting to specialise in the scholarship of the religion, the basic prerequisite must be fluency in Quranic Arabic. Without it, knowledge of Islam will always be second-hand, passed down with prejudices. A correction, then, is desperately needed,” it said in conclusion.

The original language of the Muslims’ holy book, the al-Quran, is in Arabic.

Earlier in the editorial, NST’s editors said Malaysians have always been taught to reject violence especially when it is packaged as Islam. As such, they said they found it puzzling why some have chosen the militant way, even when Malaysia is a Muslim-majority country with an “Islamic way of life”.

“Islam, as practised in Malaysia, is benign, open and no less Islamic than the way it is practised in other Muslim nations,” the paper said, citing moderation as the main principle of Islam here.

Last Friday, more than a hundred people were killed and over 200 injured during attacks by IS terrorists on restaurants, a concert hall and a sports stadium in Paris.

Since the attacks, Malaysian police have been put on high alert and are expected to deploy more than 3,000 personnel to the city’s streets from tomorrow for the 27th Asean Summit that goes on until November 22.

Last Sunday, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein revealed that the IS was targeting Malaysian leaders including himself for its attacks.

Counter-terrorism Division chief Datuk Ayob Khan Mydin confirmed the threat yesterday, saying that members of the Malaysian cell of IS had planned to kidnap the country’s leaders to use as bargaining chips to secure the release of their captured comrades.

He said that two men detained for suspected involvement in IS activities revealed a complex scheme to abduct the unnamed leaders by luring them to secluded locales in the Klang Valley.