by Director, Maritime Enforcement Division, ESSCOM, Rear Admiral (Maritime) . M. Karunanithi (Ret)
I had the opportunity to participate in a webinar on Right Wing Terrorism, hosted by Daniel K. Inouye Asia Pacific Centre for Security Studies, Hawaii last Wednesday.
The webinar specifically discussed the phenomenon of Buddhist extremism in Myanmar, Hindu extremism in India and the resurgence of white supremacist extremism in the West.
These extremist groups were defined by their political views, religious belief, ethnicity or a combination of these characteristics.
It was also argued that these forms of extremism could be basically used as belief systems that legitimise structural violence (a form of violence wherein some social structure or social institution may harm people by preventing them from meeting their basic needs) against the minority.
My take away from this webinar was Malaysia too is no exception to this trend of right-wing extremism.
Firstly, lets define briefly what is right wing extremism.
Right wing extremism is usually defined as a specific ideology characterised by anti-democratic opposition towards equality. It is also associated with racism, xenophobia, exclusionary nationalism, conspiracy theory, and authoritarianism.
The concept is often associated with politically motivated violence. It also could mean as the holding of extreme political or religious views.
Extremism thrives in polarised environment particularly that disparage minority. An extremist state of mind tolerates no diversity!
For decades, Malaysia has been hailed as a country which practices moderation and “unity in diversity” was our trademark.
Sadly, our race relations started to deteriorate since the late 60’s, but the last five years or so we have seen many unprecedented events, that indicate that we are further retreating into extremism.
Cases in point (1) the unresolved disappearance of Pastor Koh, Joshua Hilmy and his wife and Shia activist Amri Che Mat; (2) the protests on the appointment of non-Bumiputera Chief Justice, Minister of Finance and the Attorney General; (3) the proposal to recognise UEC was met with mass demonstration with the notion that the majority’s interests were facing multiple threats from the minorities and liberals; (4) mass protest against the plan to ratify the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and Rome Statute; (5) the call for closure of vernacular schools; and many others.
How did we end up there? I reckon we took our trademark “unity in diversity” for granted.
We allowed political radicalisation to proliferate.
Opportunistic politicians took advantage of their patronage to implicitly approve the calls of exclusion. And the media lost its behavioural courtesy by expressing far more hostile views with regard to ethnic and religious differences than before.
It is harder to be optimistic about the current trend and policy makers should not ignore this reality.
While policing is certainly essential to address and manage this extremism, the policy makers need to broaden and adjust their responses toward fairness in the society.
Adjustments include emphasis on rule of law, genuine democratic progress, inclusion, and commitment to human rights.
Politicians should stop joining and or raising calls for exclusion instead build inclusive politics through conflict resolution. Hate speeches ought to be stopped. Social media must show civility and more expression of inclusive/conciliation views when it comes to ethnic and religious differences.
I served Sabah from December 2011 till July 2016 and vividly remember Sabah for its genuine multi-ethnic unity. Sabah is the perfect model for 1Malaysia concept. Hence, Right-wing Extremism has no place in Sabah and never allow it to take root!
