He said in his latest blog post that the policies and behaviour of Malaysian Muslim leaders contribute to the “healthy growth of terrorist conduct and behaviour”.
Writing in a frank and honest manner, Zaid laid bare the situation in the country, and how the actions and non-actions of Muslim leaders have been laying, and continue to, lay the seeds of terrorism in Malaysia.
But instead of just criticising or assigning blame, he also offered suggestions on how to ensure terrorism is defeated.
“If the PM (Prime Minister Najib Razak) is sincere in wanting to combat terrorism, may I suggest that he begin with two simple steps: have a new group of progressive Muslims helm Jakim (The Islamic religious department) to present a new vision of what is true Islam, and then give regular lectures to state religious departments to let them know that Islam is not, in fact, under threat.
“The PM needs to inculcate a more hopeful and positive behavioural change in Muslim leaders so that we have a less toxic environment in the country. Why not talk about hope and how we can live together better?”
Zaid said Najib, like other Muslim leaders, frequently asked Muslims to emulate the “real” Islam. This, he said, usually happens after a few bombs have exploded or other senseless killings have taken place in the streets of western Europe.
Saying that Malaysia has its “fair share” of terrorists, the DAP member added that the nation had produced bomb-makers and jihadists who have joined the Islamic State’s movement in Mindanao, southern Thailand, Indonesia, Syria and Afghanistan.
He gave several examples of Malaysians who were involved in terrorist activities in Indonesia and the Philippines.
“None of them have exploded bombs in our streets yet, but terrorism is not just evidenced by violence and death. In our case, the body may look healthy but a virus is clearly in our midst and has already infected our neighbours.
“Overt violence is only the visible part of terrorism, the end of the food chain. It begins when we adopt political, cultural and social norms and values that are violent in nature.”
Elucidating on the seeds of terrorism, Zaid said: “The language we use, the political culture we adopt, the manner with which we treat dissent and the disproportionate actions we take against those who oppose us are all examples of the birth of terrorist actions.”
Saying these actions capture the imagination of those who want to further their cause, he added that terrorism takes time to fester.
“Radical Muslim leaders in Britain had to engage in radical preaching for many years (thanks to liberals who could not appreciate the difference between hate speech and free speech) before they successfully produced the walking bombs in the streets of London and Manchester today.
“It will be the same here. If we continue to allow hate speech to proliferate, if we cannot show enough tolerance to other believers and if our political culture continues to intimidate, then it’s just a matter of time before the bombs explode and senseless killings take place in this TN50 country.”
Terrorism, he said, is not confined to suicide bombings but is the use of violence and threats to intimidate and coerce, especially for political purposes.
“Our Muslim leaders like to tell Muslims in this country that Islam is under threat, and that pluralism and liberals must be wiped out in order to protect the religion. They tell Muslims to follow the ‘real’ Islam, which means Muslims can only follow whatever these leaders define as true Islam.
“They use the law to compel observance of the true Islam, as opposed to showing kindness and understanding to Muslims who have gone astray.
“These leaders should know that laws and edicts have never succeeded in forcing people to follow a belief system. Belief is the territory of the soul, and the soul resents preachers who belittle them.”
Zaid accused these leaders of deliberately spreading fear each time they spin the narrative that Malaysia needs to be protected from the non-MCA Chinese, from Christians and from liberals.
“Muslim NGOs which lodge police reports, threaten and protest against those they consider their enemies unfailingly display violence in their language and conduct. How is this climate of fear and distrust going to help us in our fight against terrorism? The simple answer is that it won’t.”
He said everyone, especially Muslim leaders, should drop “this culture of intimidation and live in peace and acceptance of others instead”, ending his post with a call for them to put humanity first.