Gov't battles for Muslim hearts and minds in fight against terror
The government is engaged in an ideological battle for the hearts and minds of Muslims in its fight against terrorism, to the extent of ending funding for private religious schools, Defence Minister Najib Razak said today.
The schools were being "penetrated by extreme elements, inculcating hatred and intolerance," Najib told a conference on the strategic outlook for Malaysia.
The terrorist threat came from "a regional nexus of groups that share a common goal of establishing Taliban-theocratic type states all over the region, in countries that have large Muslim communities," he said.
"We must stop the supply chain, to fight the ideological battle and to convince Muslims to take the moderate path and not succumb and be mesmerised by extreme and deviant teachings."
Malaysia has in the past 18 months arrested more than 70 Islamic extremists, many of them allegedly members of the al-Qaeda linked Jemaah Islamiah group accused of responsibility for the Bali blast in Indonesia last October which killed nearly 200 people.
The government is engaged in an ideological battle for the hearts and minds of Muslims in its fight against terrorism, to the extent of ending funding for private religious schools, says Defence Minister Najib Razak.
The government is engaged in an ideological battle for the hearts and minds of Muslims in its fight against terrorism, to the extent of ending funding for private religious schools, Defence Minister Najib Razak said today.
The schools were being "penetrated by extreme elements, inculcating hatred and intolerance," Najib told a conference on the strategic outlook for Malaysia.
The terrorist threat came from "a regional nexus of groups that share a common goal of establishing Taliban-theocratic type states all over the region, in countries that have large Muslim communities," he said.
"We must stop the supply chain, to fight the ideological battle and to convince Muslims to take the moderate path and not succumb and be mesmerised by extreme and deviant teachings."
Malaysia has in the past 18 months arrested more than 70 Islamic extremists, many of them allegedly members of the al-Qaeda linked Jemaah Islamiah group accused of responsibility for the Bali blast in Indonesia last October which killed nearly 200 people.
Winning the hearts
But Najib said the government needed to go further and "identify any potential areas that could become the breeding ground of such misplaced hatred.
"In other words, we need to be engaged in winning the hearts and minds of the people, in particular the Muslims."
The government had acted against the religious schools as part of a strategy to check what "could well become a time-bomb that will soon explode," he said.
Najib's comments come after the government gave 74,000 students of private religious schools until Feb 6 to move to mainstream national schools.
Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Sunday that the government would not ban the schools but could no longer support them financially or otherwise, because instead of teaching religion they were sowing the seeds of hatred against the government.
Mahathir said there was no longer a need for such schools - known as the Sekolah Agama Rakyat (People's Religious Schools) - as there was adequate religious education in government schools.
Some 60 percent of Malaysia's 23 million people are Muslims and Islam is the official religion. AFP
