Faisal S Hazis an academic who coauthored the survey on tolerance and susceptibility to extremism in Southeast Asia, said 28% of Malaysian Muslims demonstrated “violence-receptive” tendencies, meaning that they did not directly reject violence.
Instead, he said, the respondents showed support for extremism or justified violence in the name of Islam.
However, only 2% of the 823 Malaysian Muslim respondents polled said they would directly participate in violent extremism.
The study by the Merdeka Center was conducted across four Southeast Asian countries: Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. It included both Muslim and non-Muslim respondents.
The survey measured two areas of extremism: violent extremism and “self-sacrificial tendencies” or the willingness to sacrifice their lives, freedom or belongings to defend Islam.
Malaysia and Thailand recorded the highest levels of self-sacrificial tendencies.
Merdeka Center also found that support for global and regional terror groups such as Jemaah Islamiyah was present across all four countries surveyed, but was the highest in Malaysia at 18.1%.
Faisal said support for the Islamic State was also highest in Malaysia.
According to the study, intolerance among Muslim respondents for other religious groups was also high in all four countries, except Thailand where Muslims demonstrated a positive attitude towards Buddhists.
Muslim respondents in the region, including Malaysia, were also reported as being against the implementation of multi-faith education to learn about other religions.
Universiti Sains Malaysia political scientist Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid said the research provided compelling evidence that the Southeast Asian region, including Malaysia, demonstrated “increasing degrees of extremism” although he added that the levels were still considered moderate.
“Extremist-like behaviour in Malaysia has been creeping into the state. Not all, but a part of it has been creeping into the government and universities.
“This can be seen in the form of religious education such as sekolah agama(religious schools), and even in the national curriculum as part of high school or university syllabi,” he said.
He added that many extremists were from government schools, not religious schools.
Factors for extremist ideologies
Ananthi Al-Ramiah, who coauthored the survey with Faisal, said that for both forms of extremism – violent and self-sacrificing – men were more likely to be extremists.
She said the main drivers for extremism were religious narratives such as the pursuit of “purist” Islamic goals like jihad or hudud, as well as religious literalism in which respondents take the word of their Islamic teachers literally.
She said those inclined towards religious extremism also reported feeling a perceived loss of Muslim dignity, saying they felt Muslims were treated unfairly by governments around the world.
They also reported feeling a loss of personal dignity, saying they felt personally victimised for being Muslim.
The research also found that those who reported inclinations towards violent extremism did not have much money, tended to believe that suicide bombing is sanctioned in Islam, and felt that there was discrimination against Islam.
However, Ananthi also noted that 96% to 98% of Muslim respondents strongly endorsed the view that people should be treated with respect despite having extremist ideologies.
Broad recommendations
The researchers recommended an audit to determine, change or refine religious narratives in education and sermons to see if these were in line with plural democracies or secular countries.
They also suggested an active push for more moderate counter-narratives, especially towards the younger population.
Using “formers” or ex-militants who had been de-radicalised and reintegrated into society as messengers to educate the public and raise awareness was also an effective way to counter extremism, they said.
“They’ve seen it from the inside out, so when they speak about the dangers or tell people not to get recruited, it can be much more effective,” Ananthi said.
They also recommended a multi-faith education to reduce the levels of ignorance and intolerance among Muslims towards other groups.