Hasmah Zainuddin, of the university’s Media Studies Department, said police and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) should immediately “red flag” those who liked the “dangerously convincing” Facebook page of the newsletter.
Earlier today, FMT reported that a Facebook page of the newsletter set up yesterday, garnered more than 200 likes, merely hours after it was put up.
It was taken down by Facebook following complaints.
This page was a mirror of an earlier page, also on Facebook, which garnered more than 1,000 likes, before it was also taken down.
Hasmah expressed shock over the number of likes for the pages.
“Who are the people who have liked the page?
“What are these people thinking about to like the page?”
There is more reason for concern, she pointed out, that the contents of the page were “convincing” enough in talking about the Muslim struggle and jihad.
“It is written in a convincing way, urging Muslims to come forward and help their cause in the name of Islam.
“It is also in Malay. I fear it will attract a lot of rural Malays, who might feel it is their duty to fight for Islam.”
She called on the authorities to constantly work with Facebook to monitor such pages and do a profile on the people responding to these pages.
On her part, Hasmah said she would alert her students to stay away from pages seeking to recruit members for militancy and also to be on the lookout for others who might be influenced by such websites.
She proposed that the authorities set up a website to counter extreme ideologies and to explain the effects of being involved in militancy.
This would ensure people remained true to the real teachings of Islam, she said.
Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had warned people against downloading the online version of the newsletter, or getting a print version of it, or risk facing action.
Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak also said that the ministry was in the process of blocking all websites and social media contents related to Al-Fatihin, following a request from the Home Ministry.