JANUARY 29 — The best way of doing things is the way of moderation: impartial and non-excessive.
Going the extreme or radical way in our personal conducts, religious beliefs or national policies, will only spawn more conflicts and disasters for the nation.
The home ministry recently hosted an international de-radicalisation convention in Kuala Lumpur which saw the participation of delegates from Asean member states and nine other strategic partners—Australia, France, Italy, Japan, China, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Britain and the United States.
The so-called de-radicalisation convention is in its very essence a counter-terrorism meet.
Anti-terrorism measures include not just operations to detain, defeat and pursue, but also intelligence swap among countries, while de-radicalisation is a more drastic preventive strategy aimed at addressing the root causes of our problems.
The regional IS arm of Katibah Nusantara has already issued a warning in Malay to the Malaysian police, attesting to the fact that local Malay terror outfit is very much in existence. Such an anarchic act further proves that Malaysia is very much under the threat of terrorists as in many other countries in the world.
The continuous pursuit of militants by the police also shows that more and more young Malaysians are being influenced by the IS ideologies.
Most of the Malaysians detained here or killed in suicide attacks in Syria fall within the age bracket of 20 to 40. They went down the way of darkness because of their misinformed perception of Islamic teachings.
As a result, de-radicalisation is what the Malaysian government must embark on without delay, de-radicalising our youngsters from the aspects of education and religion.
To be honest, terrorism or IS have nothing to do with Islam or the Muslims but the “radicalisation” of their religious understanding.
Once radicalisation has become a substantial trend, religion will be abused into a kind of force to fan extremist emotions. These radicals will not only carry out inhuman actions against their perceived adversaries, but will most naturally justify and legitimise their iniquities.
The influences of IS have been deeply ingrained in the Middle East for some time, and they have sowed the seeds of radicalism in the heads of young people in many countries, cajoling them into operatives or lone wolves committing serious crimes against the civilised world.
As a matter of fact, de-radicalisation has been embraced in many countries to counter the assaults of IS fighters, including the UK which has set up counseling programs to guide the young people towards the right direction in their religious as well as political understanding as a means of preventing them from going extreme or violent.
Here in Malaysia we need more than ever to shore up our effort in de-radicalising our young people. Muslim organisations, in particular, must play a more proactive role in promoting orthodox religious teachings and neutralising the radical elements.
More importantly, politicians must stop politicising the Islamic faith in extending their own political interests as this will infest our society with extreme and radical religious discourse that will only intensify the radicalisation of religion.
If the government is serious about de-radicalisation, it must adhere to the way of moderation to curtail the advances of religious radicalism so that no more young Malaysians will fall victim to the IS group.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.
