Drop complacency in fight against terrorism

Thailand must not lower its guard against extremism in any form.

Malaysian authorities have foiled a plot by the Islamic State group to carry out multiple terrorist attacks in the country, as well as an attempt to kidnap Prime Minister Najib Razak and two other high-ranking officials.

The plan was uncovered in January last year. Thirteen terrorists with ties to IS were involved, the parliament was informed last week by Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who was also one of the targets.

“We detected plans to attack several locations in Kedah, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, attempts to rob firearms from army camps, making of explosives, robbing cash-in-transit vans as well as a plot to kidnap the country’s leaders for ransom,” Hamidi said.

Hamidi said IS has yet to establish a network in Malaysia, but its operatives receive their instructions from Syria.

Homegrown IS-affiliated Islamic radicals or lone wolves plotting attacks in Malaysia and elsewhere are nothing new. It has happened in Indonesia, as well as in Australia.

IS has for some time been encouraging lone wolves to take matters into their own hands instead of coming to Syria and Iraq to join the forces.

For them, inflicting fear on their enemies outside the Middle East is just as important as fighting the opposition forces on the ground.

It is good that the Malaysian authorities are on top of things and were able to foil this recent plot. But this is a long-term fight and Kuala Lumpur and its neighbors need to understand that they cannot go into this alone.

Naturally, each and every country has its own political context from which extremism grows. A country with about 30 million people -- 60 percent Muslim -- Malaysia is dealing with the fact that more than 200 of its citizens have joined IS in the Middle East.

Indonesia, on the other hand, is a country with 300 million Muslims, but with less than 400 people who have joined IS. If anything, this imbalance suggests the root cause for radicalization varies from place to place. It’s also an indication of the scale of the problem Malaysia is currently facing.

Thailand should be concerned not because the kingdom shares a common border with Malaysia, but because terrorism knows no boundaries. Complacency should be avoided in ensuring the safety and security of Malaysian interests and establishments in Thailand.

As a way to comfort themselves and to put to rest a growing fear among the general public, Thai officials often say that we are not involved in this war that has pitted IS against Arab and Muslim states across the globe.

But we cannot deny the fact that we have a stake in the outcome of this conflict. Thailand is an ally of just about every country that has been hit by IS terrorist attacks.

Moreover, relations between the Thai Buddhists and Thai Muslims, including in the Malay-speaking southernmost provinces, have not been positive, as many nationalists are trying to push a certain agenda.

Some Buddhist nationalists are trying hard to make Buddhism a national religion, as if it’s not already so, and are demanding that the constitution designate it so. In the course of their campaign, they are using “Islamic infiltration” into the kingdom as an excuse, as if Muslims were not a part of this nation.

By making the campaign, as well as the Patani Malay nationalist conflict, a religious issue, these Buddhists are taking the country into uncharted territory and the consequences could be grave if groups like al-Qaida or IS take this up and place it on their wicked agenda.

(Asia News Network/The Nation)