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| Former de facto law minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim warned of the inevitability of a similar Charlie Hebdo incident in the country unless leaders take immediate action to curb religious extremism. — Picture by Choo Choy May |
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 11 — Malaysia may well be headed for its own version of the Paris massacres if authorities do not contain rising religious extremism and rhetoric here, political observers said in agreement with warnings by two federal ministers.
But unlike the Cabinet ministers who saw provocation as the root of the deadly attacks that left 20 people dead, they said the growing threat here was due to the authorities allowing the voices of extremism to go unanswered.
Former de facto law minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim warned of the inevitability when people here will kill over perceived insults, as was the case in the so-called Charlie Hebdo massacre, if the nation’s leaders continue to sit idly by.
“Hard to say how long (before Malaysia experiences similar attacks), but it will come unless the leaders take immediate action to curb the spread of this dangerous ideology.
“Egypt summoned all the clerics and scholars and ask them to address this issue. We should do the same,” he suggested.
Dr Lim Teck Ghee who heads the Centre for Policy Initiatives agreed that the deadly violence can happen here or anywhere in the world where “religious extremism is tolerated or sanctioned by the state”.
In Malaysia’s case, he said it was because of an alleged penchant by authorities to ignore Malay racial and Islamic religious extremists instead of cracking down on these.
“Often, the impression is given that these extremists are being encouraged in their hate campaign,” he told Malay Mail Online yesterday via e-mail.
Lim added that currently, it has been a mainly “peaceful encroachment on the rights of the non-Muslims” and other minorities, but he pointed out that there are militant Islamic groups and individuals, especially among the young, who believe that the ends justify the use of violence and terror.
PAS Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad was more blunt in his assessment over the source of violent extremism here, laying the blame squarely on right-wing groups such as Perkasa and non-governmental groups backed by the ruling Umno.
According to Khalid, the possibility of religious extremists turning violent here is because such groups were “chauvinistic in nature” and do not understand that Islamic teachings is about persuasion instead of coercion.
“I understand that they are saying that it's done because of the extremism shown by Charlie Hebdo, because of the satire about the Prophet Muhammad, but what you have to understand is something that has been happening all this while and does not justify use of violence,” he said during a phone interview yesterday.
“If one comes up with a stupid argument, you have to respond through an argument and tell the bigoted magazines that that's not the way to go,” he said, referring to Charlie Hebdo.
Yesterday, Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali said that although the French massacre was regrettable, the Islamist gunmen behind the attacks had been forced to take matters into their own hands as French laws failed to prevent the insults to Muslims.
Ibrahim also joined the Greek chorus arguing that the Charlie Hebdo massacre proves the need for preventive security laws in Malaysia.
Fair enforcement, not tougher laws, the answer
Zaid said, however, that more or stricter laws would do little to curb the rise in extremism, noting the seeming endorsement by authorities when existing legislation to deal with such threats went unenforced.
“I see no action other than more tough talk and threats and getting the police to act. This just fuel more extremism. What is needed is discourse, engagement and willingness to move together to curb this national menace,” he said.
Lim also said Malaysia can legislate all manner of laws ostensibly to tackle extremism and terrorism, but without fair and judicious implementation, extremists “will think they can get away with even murder”.
Umno’s Pulai MP Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed also stressed the need for unbiased and effective enforcement.
“That’s where police and intelligence agencies need to play their part effectively. They failed Semporna, Sabah two years ago due to poor intel,” he said, referring to the 2013 Lahad Datu standoff in which 10 police and military personnel were killed in skirmishes with Sulu invaders.
With the retention of the Sedition Act and the plan to introduce a new anti-terrorism law with preventive detention powers, Khalid said it is not more laws that the country needs, but for authorities to stop using existing ones lopsidedly.
He cited as example the case of Perkasa’s Ibrahim, whose blatant calls to burn Malay-language Bibles last year escaped prosecution after the Attorney-General decided the self-professed Malay rights proponent “had no intention to create religious disharmony”.
“If what is prophesied by Hishammuddin and Khairy come to pass, it is not because of the lack of laws but a political agenda being implemented by Umno and BN in order to create a sense of racial and religious tension, when in actual fact there is none,” he alleged.
Cabinet ministers Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and Khairy Jamaluddin warned separately that the Charlie Hebdo attacks, which left 20 people dead in Paris, could be replicated in any country, including Malaysia.
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.
Sources: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/in-tacit-approval-for-hate-observers-see-buds-of-local-charlie-hebdo
Malay Mail Online - Malaysia - MELISSA CHI
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