Andrin Raj, who is the SEA regional director for the International Association of Counterterrorism and Security Professionals with the Centre for Security Studies, said soft approaches might not necessarily be sufficient.
He was responding to former defence minister Hishamuddin Hussein’s statement on using the soft approach to tackle violence and terrorism instead of military options.
Hishammuddin, in his comments on Putrajaya’s decision to shut down the King Salman Centre for International Peace (KSCIP), had said that its sole purpose was to explore soft approaches in countering violence and terrorism since the hard approach seemed unfruitful.
While some have viewed the shutting down of the KSCIP as a ‘great loss’ to Malaysia, Andrin said there should not be any adverse impact from the government’s decision.
“Saudi Arabia has no reason to be offended as it’s the decision of a sovereign state and the government of today.
“There is little indication that the Saudi-initiated centre had been effective in addressing radicalisation and extremism in Saudi Arabia,” he told FMT.
Andrin said the radicalisation process in the Middle East was different and the KSCIP might not be able to tackle violence and terrorism in the SEA region as the communities were multiracial and multireligious.
“Hence, interfaith and counter-terrorism experts within the region are needed to neutralise the threat here in Malaysia and within the region.
“Malaysia currently engages the two-pronged system which is the soft and hard approaches to address the threats nationwide.
“In countering terrorism the situation differs from country to country but sometimes the hard approach is an alternative as you cannot only counter the threats with a soft approach.
“The soft approach has not yielded a fair stand to address the threat and there is no data provided by the former administration to prove this,” he said.
When asked whether the Malaysia Institute of Defence and Security (Midas) will be able to play the role of the KSCIP, Andrin said it must include counter-terrorism and counter-narrative experts who would know how to counter the threats.
As for Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) security expert Mohamad Faisol Keling, he said Midas should be expanded to make it more productive and effective, in order to ensure that the country’s security was not compromised.
“The government’s decision reflects its confidence in tackling these threats and this would have been based on the consideration offered by defence advisers and senior officers of the armed forces.
“Among the issues that need to be addressed are militancy (invasion) and monitoring of subversive movements which are sponsored by foreign countries and the involvement of Malaysians in terrorism activities,” he said.
Faisol also agreed that violence and terrorism threats needed both soft and hard approaches.
“By right there should be a combination of both soft and hard approaches.
“But the soft approach is deemed more effective, as it deals also with the fundamentals.
“If this approach is applied at earlier stages, it will be able to prevent threats from worsening.
“As Malaysia has been the role model for the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries and recognised by the United Nations Security Council, in this context, I think Malaysia definitely must have its own approach in addressing these threats,” he said.
The KSCIP began operations in May 2017 in a bid to correct perceptions of the world community towards Islam.
Its operations involved Islamic scholars, academicians, intelligence agencies and certain centres at the regional and international levels.
During its operation, KSCIP focused not only on military aspects, but also on academic elements, with the main role to combat terrorist threats and the spread of propaganda and ideologies bandied about by the extremists and the terrorists.
Since the announcement of its closing, the KSCIP’s temporary office at Menara HLA on Jalan Ampang was also ordered to be closed immediately and Midas, under the defence ministry, is to take over the roles and functions of KSCIP to counter extremism.