Balakrishnan RK Suppaiah of Universiti Malaya (UM) said to do this, federal and state religious authorities needed to vet the activities of preachers in the country.

“It’s a tough challenge (fighting extremist ideology) but Malaysia can do it because our policies are right and we have a good police force. (Now) the religious authorities must work harder,” he told FMT.

He said this when asked for his comments about a statement by Special Branch counter-terrorism division principal assistant director Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay that Islamic State (IS) would continue to pose a significant threat if other agencies, especially religious authorities and departments, did not play their part in curbing the spread of “salafi jihadi” ideology.

Balakrishnan said extremist ideology had always been the problem.

“Look at the trend in the one or two decades from the era of the Taliban. This kind of ideology is dominating and spreading to regions that are capable of launching terror attacks, such as Chechnya, Central Asia, Pakistan, Indonesia, and southern Thailand. The ideological problem has been around for decades.”

Balakrishnan claimed that extremist ideology was often openly preached in places of worship.

“There is always a tendency to preach hatred and this is actually not exclusive to Islam,” he said. “So all ceramah must be screened and all speakers, vetted.”

Balakrishnan conceded that due to religious sensitivities, this would not be easy to do, but it had to be done all the same.

“People will question why you are monitoring places of worship so it is a tough challenge, but you have to do it because we are a moderate nation.

“We promote moderation in Asean and we want to be a good role model as a Muslim state.”

He also spoke of the possibility of a fatwa forbidding the preaching of hate.

“Religious authorities issue these fatwas. I wonder if they could issue a fatwa stating that hatred towards any particular group should not be preached.”