IS White Paper an attempt to tarnish Islamic state goal, says Islamist group

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 5 ― Putrajaya’s White Paper on the Islamic State (IS) terror group is an attack by the government against Muslims fighting for an Islamic state, the local chapter of global hardline Islamist organisation Hizbut Tahrir said today.

The group accused the Najib administration of bowing down to US demands by depicting an Islamic state as a terrible and cruel nation.

“What the government is doing is actually painting Muslims as a ‘den of terrorists’, which is exactly how America sees it,” said Hizbut Tahrir Malaysia in its weekly newsletter.

“It’s even worse if the Act includes the ‘Islamic state’ goal as one of the criteria or paths to violence that will then give the government an opportunity to detain anyone associated with fighting for an Islamic state,” the group added, referring to Putrajaya’s proposed anti-terror law.

In the White Paper recently tabled in Parliament on the IS, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak outlined the history of the IS, the threat the group poses and the impact it has on Malaysians, as well as the danger in allowing its skewed Islamic teachings and violent practices to spread in Malaysia, a predominantly Muslim country.

The White Paper also recommended a new anti-terrorism law to address the menace.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi announced last week that the new law, which will be tabled in Parliament next March, is set to have “preventive measures”.

Despite its criticism, Hizbut Tahrir stressed that it was wrong to set up an Islamic state either through violence or democracy.

“One of the true ways in creating an Islamic state is through the path shown by Rasulullah SAW, which is through political and intellectual proselytisation,” said the group.

“Even though the government rationalises the proposed law as a way to counter the IS threat, the fact is that the government is merely entertaining the US’ desires in combating terrorists and in bad-mouthing Islamic states,” Hizbut Tahrir added.

IS is a jihadist militant group that uses brutal tactics such as murder and beheadings in Syria and Iraq, and which states its goal the establishment of an Islamic caliphate purportedly based on Shariah law.

The group is categorised as a terrorist organisation by Malaysia and many other countries.