Islamic State gaining foothold in country, says don

(The Rakyat Post) – The Islamic State (IS) group is continuing to gain a foothold and attracting new recruits from Muslims in Malaysia, especially young people.

Ahmad El Mohammady, from Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (Abim), said IS supporters were evident from personal Facebook pages and even the distribution of IS-branded T-shirts.

Ahmad, a lecturer in political science from the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), said he had come across Facebook pages by Malaysians who were actively promoting the jihadist group.

“I have seen the postings getting more than 5,000 likes and there are bound to be some who will be totally convinced.

“It has yet to reach the point where they are taking up arms, but it doesn’t mean we should not be concerned,” he told The Rakyat Post.

He claims that the government is “well aware” of these groups and was closely monitoring their activities.

Ahmad said that it would take time to deal with the situation as the government needed to collect evidence.

“IS is smart because it is led by young people, and it has experts packaging its image, with HD video, T-shirts and websites promoting its cause.

“Both the government and the public must work together on how to deal with this type of extremism.”

Earlier on, Ahmad had given his thoughts during a youth town hall session on “No To Terrorism”, held at Publika Solaris Dutamas here.

He was among the panellists, together with Global Movement of Moderates (GMM) chief executive officer Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah and Julia Sveshnikova, from the Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF).

At the same time, Ahmad also advised Islamist group Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) to talk out their concerns instead of just telling non-Muslims what they are not allowed to do.

Isma had called on  the authorities to ban the annual Oktoberfest beer festival as Malaysia was an Islamic country and had condemned PAS Member of Parliament Khalid Samad for defending the non-Muslims.

“Isma is entitled to its views, but there is no compulsion in Islam and you can’t force it down on non-Muslims.

“Isma should discuss the matter in a proper way by reaching out to the non-Muslims and also Muslims who oppose its views.

“This is much better than ‘megaphone diplomacy’ where it makes views heard solely through press releases and announcements via the mass media.”

He warned that the matter must be dealt with as it would otherwise result in an unhealthy environment for the country’s multiracial society.

“Perhaps people can bear with issues for one or two years, but if nothing is done for 10 years, then things will eventually explode.”