MAY 4 — A friend of mine intermittently imposes a Changkat Bukit Bintang ban on himself. This usually follows terror threat alerts from embassies and police.
No amount of convincing and anecdotal evidence will sway him from his decision not to frequent the city’s party central. He retorts, “You don’t need many terrorist attacks to be killed.”
Whether someone is aware or not, living in Kuala Lumpur mostly is an existential threat.
Though the cynic may point out it’s just the price of urban living today.
Still, the spate of arrests and the frequency of state action have alerted this column that a reaction is necessary.
Recruitment
It happens daily, and it is not dependent on law enforcement to counter. While much is exhausted to monitor and to decisively intervene before acts are perpetrated, the role of family, friends and society has never been greater.
Islam is not synonymous with violence — extremism has no religious borders — but with Islamic State (IS) having developed an international network of recruiters and back-ups, it is a clear and present danger to all nations.
Which is why a societal response builds resilience.
People are radicalised in social spaces, and those co-existing in those spaces are best equipped to identify it.
Currently, there is populist encouragement to those seeking to increase piety to their Islamic faith, which means often family are disinterested in the direction of those spiritual pursuits. They are just happy he is praying more.
This is not to obstruct the penitent from their faith, but rather asking families and friends to be cognisant of what those ethereal developments are, as in their friends/acquaintances and faith-support structures.
Residing in Mont Kiara or Damansara Heights does not innoculate families or individuals from the charms of recruiters. After all, those with five Internet devices with a private bedroom are likelier to dark web themselves to operators than those living in public housing, sharing their rooms with two others and rely on cybercafés still for their online fixes.
Political one-upmanship
This is trickier.
Islam is in the playbook of all political parties.
Even self-professed secular parties like DAP wade into the matter. How else can the political leader of a party bent on zero-religion in government turn and accuse the out-and-out Islamic party of being “lost” about their own religion?
Managing Islam, in terms of expectations, respect for, commitments to and representation of, have been staple for the parties.
There lies the trap.
In the rush to not lose votes, the politicians — who prioritise power — may end up validating some dangerous threads which supporters and opponents can further develop to dire consequences.
Because politics is about soundbites — it is about whole numbers and not the qualifications of what is being said.
So terms like “Islam at all costs”, “Islam first” and “Kafirs don’t interfere” become conduits for cadres to shout down discussions and ratchet up passions.
I’m fairly certain those speaking are not advocating violence or hate acts, but they end up raising temperatures.
The palatable solution would be for all parties, in government and out, to set out ground rules that everyone abides by. And to self-regulate their own followers when they go off the rail.
I echo this more as the stench of elections is filling the air, and some parties might press the accelerator a tad bit too hard to win the argument. Good arguments don’t require ad hominem attacks to win, assertions on the other hand need every grenade in the arsenal.
Regional proximity
With the war tapering in Iraq and Syria possibly winding down when international partners agree, then the next theatre of conflict is potentially South-East Asia.
Southern ends of Philippines and Thailand are restive with insurgency, and that is where Malaysia begins.
The epicentre would be next door.
The larger Malaysian population is used to not look beyond its borders, a corollary from our non-intervention ethos which sinews through our broader consciousness. This is ripe to be challenged.
Malaysians have to realise that not all conflicts involving Muslims have similar scripts. There are subplots, ulterior motives and localised contexts.
There has to be greater discourse on what is happening in our region, not just at a surface level.
Not in order to pass judgement, but to equip ourselves to developments which are now increasingly affecting our own balance at home.
Porous and many
While combatants heading to Syria look to Turkey as entry point, Malaysia is the quintessential porous country in an archipelago.
Malaysia has a strict passport policy to negate the millions of illegals already here, through all means possible, long before the floats from North Africa to Europe.
This coupled with swathes of refugees from a coterie of countries, magnifies the challenge to the country.
Most migrants, refugees or not, are seeking better lives. So are the hundreds of thousands of foreign students in our private and public universities. The overwhelming majority end up contributing to Malaysia.
The issue is more about having a handle when there are too many, too easily in.
That obviously is already a question those in charge are grappling with.
Involve
The choice to not care about the matter is as irresponsible as it gets. This is not to elicit anger or rage, but to encourage more interest in the situation. It can only get better when more people want to know more and play their role.
This goes beyond politics, this is about being patriotic.
The threat of IS is real, it’s very real, despite the spoofs they draw about being over the top.
Laughing them off won’t do anymore. The fuse might be long or short, stop debating that. Accept that at the end of the fuse is a powder keg.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
