THE CAUSES OF TERRORISM IN MALAYSIA
Abstract
15 years after the declaration of ‘War on Terror’, terrorist groups have not been stopped and defeated.
Instead, unprecedented increase of terrorist attacks occurred worldwide, greatly accelerated by
wars and armed conflict in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Palestine, Chechnya, Lebanon, Libya and Syria.
By the end of year 2016, almost 300 Malaysians and foreigners had been detained by Malaysian authorities
due to links with terror groups like ISIS. Those arrested includes professionals, lecturers and even
policemen. The efforts to combat terrorism is usually limited to building a coalition of military allies, to
educate the public, to fortify public spaces with improved securities, to combat terrorism financing and to
make better use of the expertise of technology giants especially those in the United States, Korea, France
and Canada to help governments enhance security and prevent attacks and to increase monitoring and
surveillance. The problem with this approach is that it is dealing with the symptoms rather than addressing
the illness. To address the illness, the root causes must be identified. This article analyzes the causes of
terrorism in Malaysia. The causes from micro, meso and macro level are scrutinized. Radicalization,
political reasons, religion reasons, economic and social reasons and psychological reasons are analyzed
further andreviewed.