PUTRAJAYA: A new education curriculum aimed at preventing the spread of extremist ideology is being drawn up, says Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
He said the new terrorism prevention education curriculum will involve all levels, from pre-school, primary and secondary school levels right up to higher education.
The Islamic Development Department of Malaysia (Jakim) has been asked to prepare the curriculum, he said.
“We must prevent differences in political beliefs, religious extremism and racism from becoming a source of terrorism,” he told reporters after chairing a meeting on counter-terrorism here yesterday.
Ahmad Zahid, who is chairman of the High Level Committee on Counter Terrorism, said Malaysia cannot be complacent in combating terrorist ideologies even as terrorism activities have seen a reduction.
He said Malaysia does not want to be complacent and will continue to step up monitoring of terrorist activities even though it is improving in the Global Terrorism Index (GTI).
Malaysia dropped to 75th position on the 2022 GTI compared to its 2021 ranking of 66th, he said, adding that the security situation here has improved tremendously.
Terrorism-related arrests had dropped from 126 cases in 2016 to seven in 2020 and only two in 2022.
“However, we cannot risk becoming complacent and we must remain vigilant while carrying out all the necessary preventive measures to uphold the safety of the nation,” he added.
Ahmad Zahid said the National Security Council would continue working diligently with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to carry out continuous monitoring of terrorist activities on all social media platforms.
According to a press release on the meeting, the National Plan of Action on Prevention and Counter Violent Extremism – designed to provide a comprehensive plan for preventing the spread of extremist terrorist ideologies involving multiple government agencies and the community – would also be finalised soon.
