Disunity may lead to bleak future for Malaysian Muslims

Disunity which is getting more apparent among the Malaysian Muslims can pose a bleak future for them, said Global Movement of Moderates (GMM) chief executive officer Nasharuddin Mat Isa.

He said, if the Muslims in Malaysia continued to break up, Islam would become weak.

"They must realise that disunity among them can actually give space for foreign elements to infiltrate the minds of young people with deviationist ideologies such as terrorism," he told Bernama in Jakarta today.

He was giving a briefing on the influence of terrorism in Malaysia, organised by the Malaysian Embassy in Indonesia and GMM at the embassy's Multipurpose Hall.

Nasharuddin, who is also former PAS deputy president, said the Malaysian Muslims should learn from what happened in the Arab world where disunity among its people caused their young men to become terrorists and subsequently, destroyed their own countries.

He said among the early signs of fragmentation of Muslims in the country were when various political parties were set up out of dissatisfaction.

"Indeed, it is everybody's right to create new political parties in any democratic system but we (need) to ask its significance to the country because such an action will only lead to disunity among the Muslims," he said.

Earlier during the briefing, Nasharuddin said studies revealed that young people who think they are righteous and without friends could easily be influenced with radical ideology.

He said this was because the absence of friends to talk and play with led them to turn to the internet as their 'friend' and get influenced with the radical ideology they read in the social media.

Nasharuddin said that parents should always be around their children and monitor the social media and websites that their children have read as prevention at early stage was crucial, he added.

Bid to form relationships

Meanwhile, Malaysia's ambassador to Indonesia Zahrain Mohamed Hashim said the embassy organised talks on regional issues in its bid to form relationships and mutual understanding to combat terrorism.

"We have invited GMM to give briefings in Indonesia on terrorism issues as both Malaysia and Indonesia share the same problem if their people follow such deviationist ideology," he said, adding that the embassy would continue to hold activities as such.

About 100 people attended the event including representatives from the Republic of Singapore Embassy, Brunei Embassy and the Asean delegates.

- Bernama