International Deradicalization Talks Set to Open in Malaysia

Ministers, senior officials and counterterrorism experts from 19 countries are set for talks in Malaysia's capital beginning Monday aimed at devising a strategy to counter the extremist views of radical Islamic State (IS) militants.

The two-day conference on "Deradicalization and Countering Violent Extremism" will be held in Kuala Lumpur amid tight security following a deadly IS attack in neighboring Indonesia's capital Jakarta that has underlined the growing threat of the militant group in the region.

"The main objective of the conference is to step up cooperation among security agencies throughout the world in deradicalization programs," a statement from the Malaysian ministry of home affairs said Friday.

"The participating countries will share and analyze good practices of deradicalization programs and identify target groups which are easily exposed to extremist militant ideology, and government role in rehabilitating them back to society," it said.

A new evil

The conference is expected to be attended by ministers in charge of fighting extremist militant threats from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the 10-member grouping's strategic partners -- the United States, France, Australia, Britain, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Japan, China and Italy, the statement said.

It added that the meeting will be divided into two main sessions – one to devise a joint ministerial statement on deradicalization and the other, a plenary one, in which the ministers will explain the deradicalization programs of their respective countries.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who has branded IS a “new evil” that has blasphemed Islam, will deliver opening remarks at the conference.

Najib had ordered increased police and military presence in public and tourist areas in Kuala Lumpur after the Jakarta blasts on Jan. 14 which had left four civilians and four attackers dead.

"We want the people to feel safe and reassured," he said. "We want the people to continue their business as normal and not to be overly concerned as the authorities have the situation under control," he was quoted saying by local media.

Muslim-majority Malaysia has arrested more than 100 people for involvement in IS. Fifty-five Malaysians have been involved in IS in Iraq and Syria, of whom 17 had been killed, the local media quoted intelligence reports as saying.

Malaysia is on the radar screens of IS, Akhbar Satar, director and senior fellow of the Centre for Fraud Management & Institute of Crime and Criminology at HELP University, told BenarNews, citing recent reports about the country in IS's online propaganda magazine Dabiq.

He said IS's ideology is based on gaining sympathy from Muslims over violence occurring in Palestine, Syria, Iraq and other Islamic states.

Atory Hussain, a senior lecturer at Universiti Sains Malaysia, cautioned that Malaysian students furthering their studies in the Middle East are being exposed to IS influence, calling for prompt action by the authorities.

A standard template

Malaysia began laying framework for the conference as early as October last year.

Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is also home minister, said then that the talks were aimed at drawing up standard operating procedures to address radicalization moves by IS and other militant groups.

"The deradicalization program is important so that a standard template can be used as the international level," he was quoted saying by the Bernama news agency.

"Malaysia has a long experience in deradicalization," he said, citing as an example the country's long but successful campaign against a communist insurgency which began in the aftermath of World War II when it was under British rule, with rebels attacking rubber plantations, tin mines and towns.

Malaysia's National Security Council this week discussed the setting up of a center to fight IS’s extremist propaganda online.

The regional, digital counter-messaging center would be set up soon, though its location had yet to be decided, Najib said, according to local media.