Mohd Mizan Mohd Aslam, the rector of the Islamic University College of Perlis, said the public should also be wary of ideological movements and developments, especially those with terrorist elements.
“Nowadays, we need to be busybodies, not otherwise. (Being aware of) threats against our safety and properties are more important,” he said.
He cited the involvement of 17 Malaysians as suicide bombers, describing it as worrying. The latest incident involved suicide bombers Mohd Amirul Rashid Abd Rahim, 26, and Mohd Syazwan Mohd Salim, 31, killing more than 30 people, in Syria and Iraq.
“This development shows that terrorism is steadily approaching our borders. What if the groups, who had been trained and influenced by Daesh radical ideology, return to Malaysia?” he asked.
He also questioned whether young people who did not understand the meaning of violence but had their minds poisoned and were recruited by Daesh could be blamed when they joined the group. They grow up with hatred and revenge. Their goal in life is to kill the enemy through violence,” said Mohd Mizan.
Daesh is the Arabic name of the Islamic State terrorist organisation.
He said from his interviews with former Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia, Jemaah Islamiah Malaysia and Halaqah Patindo (Malaysian graduates from Pakistan and India) members, he found that they were radical and extreme in nature and not afraid to die.
Mohd Mizan holds a doctorate in strategic studies, specialising in ideology of violence, radicalism and counter-terrorism.
He introduced the theory of “typology of radicalism” hierarchy, which helps classify how an individual acts and the transformation in his daily activities as ordinary follower to activist until he becomes a terrorist.
Dr Mohd Mizan said the recent series of bombings proved that threats of terrorism were increasingly obvious and needed to be contained.
“They (terrorists) are getting bolder in launching attacks in public places to instill fear among the people. They are doing this to get attention and scare the people and government, so that people will understand their struggle.
“Why do they choose public places? Because they are not capable of attacking national defence centres. This is their only way of showing off their strength,” he said.
He said the bombings in Paris which killed 130 people, in Istanbul (15 people) and in Jakarta (three people) were examples of terrorists’ strategies to make their existence known.
A threat like this only occurred in West Africa before, but it has now spread to South-East Asia and this was unavoidable, he said.
The bombings seemed to be connected to one another, but he did not rule out that there were groups taking the opportunity to seek attention.
— BERNAMA