Malaysia on the right track in its fight against terrorism
Malaysia’s emphasis on human security has put the country on the right track in its fight against terror.
Aizat Training Service director Dr Ahmad Nazzan Abdullah said with over 200 countries globally had experienced terror attacks, no country was spared from terrorism.
He, however, said with good preventive laws put in place in the country such as the Internal Security Act (ISA), which was later replaced with the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), had proven successful in the fight against terrorism.
“We also have very good de-radicalisation programme, where those who underwent the programme gave up the extreme ideologies they once adopted after two years.
“Also, pro-active counter terrorism approach by our men in blue, networking, intelligence gathering, surveillance and pre-empt raids, have all contributed to Malaysia’s success stories,” he said in his presentation titled “The Role of Human Security as a Bulwark Against Terrorism: The Malaysian Experience” at Universiti Sains Malaysia here on Thursday night.
The talk was moderated by M. Afi Adli Hasnul.
Nazzan said there was no point to create the preventive laws and undertake any such efforts after any attack takes place.
He said political security, economic security and social security have all contributed to the nation’s success in fighting terrorism.
“In his country, the people have their rights and freedoms as enshrined in the Federal Constitution. The economic wealth pie is also equally distributed among the diverse races. We also have the Social Contract in place, something not available in many countries.
“This is why we have zero terrorist attack here in Malaysia, zero death and zero damage. We are successful,” he added.
To a question from the floor, Nazzan said terrorism should not be equated with Islam or any religion for that matter as no religion condoned violence.
“With new terrorism, the terrorist organisations had brought religious ideology into their political ideology.
“Islam never asks to go and kill anyone. Suicide bombers who do this in the name of jihad will not go to heaven. No religion supports the killing of innocent people. If you detonate a bomb and people die, that is murder,” he added.
Nazzan said despite Malaysia being relatively safe, the people should know about terrorism as everyone would be affected one way or another.
He pointed out an example, that when one boards a plane, they are subjected to stringent checks.
“All this is a result of terrorism,” he noted.
He also advised students to not to be easily influenced by extreme ideologies.
“This is because extreme ideology will finally tell you that violence is the answer.
“Don’t become victims, as this is a one-way track. I had interviewed many of them who were sent to detention centre for de-radicalisation. They all regretted their actions,” he said.
Source: nst
