ISIS in our midst – reaping what was sown

Ice Cream Seller

The recent spotlight on the capture of a number of IS sympathisers as well as our own home-grown exports to Syria and Northern Iraq gives the impression that we were caught somewhat surprised. If anything, I’m only surprised that it took this long to come out in the open.

Lets face it; so much of it is our own doing. Why?

Post 1970

I remember in the early 1970s, we compromised on our quality in selecting students for tertiary and pre-university courses locally and overseas. For example, by 1971 or 1972, Bumiputera students without a Grade 1 in the MCE were allowed into Form 6. The rest needed a Grade 1 with an aggregate of 8 or less.

Some were put into Matriculation courses – open only to predominantly Malay students. By the time we got to the mid 1970s, they were being sent by droves on various scholarships to the UK, US, Australia, etc. I recall as a first-year student in the UK in 1976 so many of the students I got to know were sent despite what I would consider very average grades.

These students felt insecure and out of place – their English though good by today’s standards, was not at the level of the other Malaysian students. So they clung to themselves, never mixed with the other students, and spoke Malay amongst themselves. To further ring-fence themselves in, they sought companionship in the small mosques – which were monopolised and run by Pakistanis. They (the Pakistanis) themselves were mostly blue-collar workers and came from the less educated parts of Pakistani society – with their brand of Islam. Our boys were largely taken in being at a very impressionable age

By the time they returned, they even told their parents that what they (their parents) were practising was incorrect, etc. I never heard of halal meat until my Malay friends spoke about going to the Halal butchers in the UK. Gradually, chicken, lamb, beef were generally only consumed if halal. Prior to that, Tescos, Sainsbury, etc., provided what was needed

So we had a generation of foreign ‘educated’ returnees who came back with a totally different worldview prior to leaving our shores. Many came home without qualifying – but that’s another story.

I used to go occasionally to eat in one house with five Malay girls. Then, only one wore a tudung to class. But at their home, it was, I suppose, ‘safe’ enough for her to be around minus the tudung. It was no big deal for me – having a large repertoire of friends. They were the typical nice, hospitable Malay girls that I knew at home in PJ and other parts of Malaysia.

1980s- 1990s

During this period, the scene as played out above continued but probably with variations here and there. By then, the English proficiency had also dropped, as credits in English were no longer required. By then I was working back in Malaysia and one particular country I had to cover was Pakistan.

I recall flying to Karachi airport and upon disembarking from the plane I noticed that a number of very young Malay boys – probably about 12 or 13 years of age – were coming out as well. They wore slippers with some in Baju Melayu. I wondered where their parents were only to find that at the exit after customs, the ‘Abangs’ were there waiting for them. The ‘Abangs’ looked like in their late teens and dressed in neither Pakistani nor Baju Melayu outfits; certainly not western.

Each flight I took was the same. I guess, by the time these boys returned, it was not just with their knowledge of making NAAN. I wonder where they ended up in our local fabric of society

Residential Schools

Nearly all our government residential schools are for Muslim students – whether Indian Muslim, Malay, or of mixed parentage. So, at 13 years, they are set apart from the rest of society. Add to that there would have been subtle as well as not so subtle lessons taught about what their roles are to be in our society, a take on other religions and cultures, etc.

Universities

The cream are sent overseas and generally what’s left inundate the public universities. Here they have to match the cream of the pendatangs who were not able to go overseas for whatever reason. Even here, the degree of interaction is nothing to crow about. Scepticism and suspicion are the norm.

Of course in addition to all of the above has been the battle amongst the main Malay political parties to prove their Islamic credentials at the expense of the others – including non-Muslims.

So, at the end of the day, when we have within our shores and exporting from our shores doctors (women at that) who leave to serve ISIS and others who are ingrained for ‘jihad’ we should not be totally surprised.

We are reaping what was sown. And the sowers are leading comfortable lives.