Countering Radicalism: The Next Generation and Challenges Ahead

Author: Abdul Halim Bin Kader
Publisher: Taman Bacaan
ISBN: 978981822996
Weight: 0.4 kg
Pages: 169 pp
Year: 2009
Price: RM

We live in a troubled world. Every day we are bombarded with images of violence and war, on TV news and in the newspapers. Terrorism has brought the impact of such violence not only to our living room, but has also through its ideology of violence and extremism, infected the vulnerable members of our community and radicalising them to support the terrorist agenda.

Information communication technology and the Internet makes it impossible to shut out such an ideology out from our society. Complete censorship is not possible. We cannot therefore insulate our people from the threat of extremist thinking and ideas. Faced with such a challenge, what we can and must do is to inoculate our people and build up our immune system.

Governments can strengthen security defences and make it more difficult for terrorists to stage attacks. Security agencies can track and neutralise individuals or groups who flirt with terrorist organisations or imbibe their ideology. So far, we have been successful. Often, such success is possible because ordinary citizens step forward to alert the authorities when they see something suspicious or amiss.

Ultimately therefore, terrorism is defeated not by Governments but by the people. The average man in the street is the key component of the national community of vigilance which can make target hardening of a country effective. The same approach applies to the threat of terrorist or extremist ideology although in this instance, we need the community and faith leaders to lead the way.