Police monitoring youths on social media to nip extremism in the bud

 

The Royal Malaysia Police headquarters set up a special unit to monitor social media platforms to prevent youths from getting caught up in extremist groups that could threaten national security.

DCP Normah Ishak, from the Bukit Aman Special Branch Counter-Terrorism Division, said youths have the potential to get involved in radical and extremist activities if the matter is not addressed immediately.

The division’s principal assistant director said the police will take proactive measures by getting close to such individuals.

This will be an early prevention measure to ensure they will not get involved in extremist groups, she said.

“In Malaysia, it is not an offence for an individual to be radical, but it is the starting point of being an extremist. So, we take preventive measures from the beginning by intervening and neutralising the identified individuals.

“We have conducted a few preventive cases last year, and two early this year for individuals in their 20s,” she said.

She was speaking at a workshop in Kuala Lumpur recently on the media’s role in countering violent extremism and radicalisation.

Meanwhile, Wan Abdul Rahmad Wan Yaman of the Prisons Department of Malaysia said as of March 30, about 55 were imprisoned, with one detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

According to the department’s director of radical and high-risk detainees/prisoners division, the radical detainees are placed in a separate building.

They will be required to undergo a human development programme which encompasses behaviour, skills, knowledge, and spiritual elements, he said, adding that the programme is conducted by the Prisons Department.

He said the prisons are equipped with CCTVs to monitor the prisoners’ movements and behaviour, especially during their meetings family members and friends.

- Bernama