KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 10 — A minister’s warning that Malaysia could see its own version of the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris that left 20 people dead has prompted DAP’s Lim Kit Siang to ask why growing religious extremism is not muzzled here.
Agreeing with Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein’s prognosis on the threats of religious extremism, Lim nevertheless lamented that the minister was commenting on the symptom — the threat to national security — rather than the cause: growing religious fundamentalism and extremism.
Citing the Global Terrorism Index 2014 released by the Institute of Economic and Peace in November, the DAP parliamentary leader noted that Malaysia has climbed 91 spots in the ranking since 2012 and was now 48th in a list topped by war-torn Iraq and Afghanistan.
“The horrific terrorist attacks in Paris, together with Malaysia’s adverse ranking in the Global Terrorism Index, should set off the alarm bells in the country as it come at a most critical juncture of the nation’s history, with the recent lurch towards the rhetoric and politics of hatred, intolerance and extremism with racial and religious polarization at its lowest point for over four decades,” Lim said in a statement today.
Accusing the current administration of allowing extremists to spew their politics of hatred and intolerance unchecked in recent years, the DAP leader asserted that Malaysia was more at risk of having the Paris massacre replicated now than at any other time in the nation’s history.
Criticising Putrajaya for its inaction against open provocation and bigotry, Lim then juxtaposed the government’s incongruous silence against extremism against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s repeated messages espousing moderation both at home and abroad.
“Is the Prime Minister and his Cabinet prepared to take the lead in the country to promote moderation and drown out the voices of extremists, who can only represent a tiny though raucous minority in the country?”
Yesterday, Hishammuddin was reported by news portal Malaysiakini as saying that it was not unthinkable for the killings and sieges that gripped Paris to occur in Malaysia.
“Don’t take it lightly that what was faced by that country (France) is not impossible for us to face (here),” Hishammuddin was quoted telling reporters.
Three suspected Islamists descended on the office of satirical French weekly Charlie Hebdo on January 7 and gunned down 12 people including the magazine’s staff and police officers over its provocative depictions of Prophet Muhammad.
Altogether 17 victims have died along with the three hostage-takers since Wednesday.
This morning, a top official of the al Qaeda terrorist network — to which the slain Islamist gunmen had claimed affiliation — warned France of further attacks over the Charlie Hebdo incident.
