Militancy: Kudos to the police

I saw a video that showed a group of Islamic State militants talking about themselves. It is titled ‘Grooming Children for Jihad: The Islamic State’.

I was both saddened and shocked by it. Young children are being indoctrinated to hate and kill. One scene shows a child who has been taken to Syria by his father, a Belgian Muslim.

The father asks: “Are you from Belgium or the Islamic State?”. He looks at his father with innocent eyes, laughing shyly. The father goads him on: “Talk to him, (the TV interviewer from VICE News) tell him that you are from the Islamic State.” The boy does so.

The father than asks, for the benefit of the camera, “Do you want to go back to Belgium? Why?” The boy glances at him, as if uncertain what to say, and the father continues: “What is there in Belgium?” Son: “Infidels”.

Father: “What do we have here?” Son: “Islamic State”. Father: “What do you want to be? A jihadist or execute a martyrdom (suicide) operation?” Son: “Jihadist”.

Father: “Why do we kill infidels? What have the infidels done?” Son: “They kill Muslims.” Father: “All the infidels? Like the infidels of Europe?” Son: “The infidels of Europe, all the infidels.”

There are other scenes of boys and youths who speak up for the Islamic State. When the IS militants give talks, they are surrounded by young listeners, with some of the boys holding weapons.

One of the speakers, in one scene, sings a song praising the IS founder: “O Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, you terrify the enemies; Beautiful virgins are calling, enrol me as a martyr.” Others join in, which means this is a popular song among the militants.

I said I was shocked and saddened by this. I am also frightened by it. How can they do this to children? How can a parent put his child in harm’s way or teach him to kill?

The latest atrocity committed by IS (formerly known as Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, and also as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, ISIL) militants is the killing of more than 700 Yazidis, followers of an ancient religion, in northern Iraq.

A Reuters report said IS militants went to the Yazidi village of Kocho and ordered everyone to convert to Islam. According to Khalof Khodede, a father of three and a witness, everyone except the village head agreed.

Khalof said because one person refused to convert, the 80 men in the village were all shot and killed.

I have read about how they offer non-Muslims an option: convert to Islam or be killed or pay special taxes; but this killing is simply barbaric.

Khalof was the only survivor. He was wounded and lay hidden under the bodies of the dead. He said they took away all the women and girls.

There are reports that the IS militants use kidnapped women and girls as sex slaves for their fighters. I am reading reports about how, without any qualm, they slit people’s throats, especially those of the Shia sect of Islam and Muslims who fight them.

The Muslims that I know are pained by what is happening in Iraq and Syria and how these militants are subverting Islam. As my friend Ariff says, this is not what Islam is about.

No less a person than Saudi Arabia’s grand mufti Abdulaziz al-Sheikh said, on Tuesday, that terrorism has no place in Islam. He even labelled IS and Al-Qaeda as the “number one enemy of Islam”.

The problem, however, is that IS continues to attract young men. This has to be studied and discussed by Islamic leaders, and solutions found quickly. Malaysia should play a more prominent role in this, together with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

I have read reports which suggest more than 100 Malaysians are with IS and that a few of them have been killed in the fighting

I am so glad that Malaysian police are acting against militants. This is a peaceful country. No doubt sometimes Malaysians quarrel publicly over race or religion or some other stuff. But this has almost always been verbal and it has generally stayed within the confines of the law.

Militancy should not be allowed to take root here. As I have said before, the public should support the police in their actions against militants. The government should allocate more resources to the police to fight this scourge.

The police should go slow on social media users and activists who make their voices heard peacefully, and concentrate on those with a militant bent.

In June, Home Minister Zahid Hamidi, promising to go after the militants who are going off to fight in Syria and elsewhere and those who shelter them here, said: “No threat is a small threat.” We should be happy that the government is taking the matter seriously.

On Aug 16, outspoken former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad condemned IS and said Malaysia would be a violent country if Malaysians were to emulate them.

Saying there was no place for violence in Islam, Dr Mahathir added: “The other day (Prime Minister Datuk Seri) Najib (Razak) mentioned that we should copy ISIS. I don’t know if he knew what he was saying but I think if we copy ISIS, this country will not be stable. It will be very violent.”

He is right. The IS ideology and methods will destroy Malaysia. Police have already revealed how Malaysian militants who had been arrested earlier this year had been planning to attack several pubs, discos and even the Carlsberg brewery in Shah Alam.

Police said these militants were supporters of IS. The suspects told police their aim was to overthrow what they perceive to be an un-Islamic government in Putrajaya.

Police detained 19 people suspected of working with or sympathetic to IS between January and June. Kudos to the police.