Religious institutions must be proactive in combating terrorism, extremism: Najib

PUTRAJAYA: Religious institutions must play a more proactive role in combating terrorism and extremism.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak said the role of the religious institution is not limited to propagating belief, but also to counter negative narratives on Islam.
"This dialogue, therefore, serves not only as a medium to advance the idea of wisdom and moderation in countering terrorism.
"It also serves as a call for religious experts and institutions to become more engage and innovative in coming up with methods to counter extremist ideology and distorted narratives about religious obligations," Najib said when closing the Putrajaya International Security Dialogue 2018 (PISD2018) held at IOI Marriot hotel here.
Also present at the event was Deputy Prime Minister cum Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Rabitah Al-Alam Al-Islami secretary general Dr Muhammad Abdul Karim Al-Issa.
He added Malaysia has been strong to promote the concept of wasatiyyah (moderation) as a framework that is applicable across a huge range of areas, which includes governance as well as resolving disputes or problems.
"Although wasatiyyah is a Quranic concept, that does not mean that it is not highly relevant to non-Muslims.
"Moderation is also a crucial shield against extreme ideologies, radicalization and terrorism," Najib said.
Meanwhile, Ahmad Zahid said the Home Ministry has always been cooperating with Islamic scholars to deradicalise Daesh teachings.
"We don't want to work in silos, there are seven clusters under us and one of them is education.
"And under the education cluster, we have a lot of scholars where we gather their thoughts so we could come out with the best ideology to combat Daesh," Zahid said.