Is Malaysia Failing To Keep Women Away From Islamist Extremism?
(ANALYSIS) A recent report by U.N. Women revealed that female empowerment has been a top priority in Malaysia, the southeast Asian country of 35 million people. From running tech startups, costume and jewelry businesses to driving public buses, women in Muslim-dominated Malaysia are largely economically, socially and culturally independent. Yet, a significant number is attracted to what most would define Islamist extremism.
Globally, women have been recognized to play the roles as recruiters, financiers and influencers for radical Islamist groups. While the proliferation of cyberspace has increased the accessibility of women to advance and increase their participation, Malaysian women too have been recruited by terrorist networks.
Last year, a paper stated that several Malaysian women have expressed their ambition to die as “syaheed [martyrs]” as they wanted to atone for their past sins. Due to the influence of male family members, who are also militants, women may correspond through Facebook with Daesh members and agree to marry and move to Syria, the paper added.
A 2023 paper stated that the ISIS allegedly attracted Malaysian women and children, and even formed Malay-speaking wings --“Katibah Nusantara” and “Katibah Masyaariq.” More women have been arrested for their support for and involvement in the Islamic State, which along with the ASG (Abu Sayyaf Group), and al-Qaeda, continued to use Malaysia as a transit point and, to a lesser extent, a destination, at least till 2021.
In 2018, a 51-year-old homemaker was among 15 Malaysians arrested for suspected terror attack — precisely for planning to ram a car into voters and attack non-Muslim places of worship. Police considered this as a first case of a woman aspiring to conduct a terror attack inside Malaysia. She had recruited other individuals, including women, through social media platforms (such as Facebook and WhatsApp) using the name “Kumpulan Makan-Makan Kak Nor (translated as Sister Nor’s eating group)” to avoid being detected and caught by the authorities. Multiple women have been arrested in the Southeast Asia region including Malaysia for planning to marry IS fighters or to travel to the IS territory.
But women in Malaysia also played a critical role in expanding the network of Jemaah Islamiyah — the Indonesia-based disbanded militant group that wanted to establish an Islamic state in Southeast Asia — through marriages. Marriages within the organization allowed JI to strengthen weak alliances and forge them in other cases, while expanding its influence. In one case, a Malaysian woman married a JI member, who was an accused in the Bali bombings that killed over 202 people in 2002 upon the insistence of her father.
In general, civilians in Malaysia have expressed some support towards ISIS. A 2015 study by Pew Research Center stated that 11% of Muslims in Malaysia had a favorable opinion of ISIS, compared to 4% of Muslims in Indonesia. According to another 2013 survey — titled “Muslim Publics Share Concerns about Extremist Groups” — found tht almost a quarter of Muslims in Malaysia (27%) believed that attacks on civilians are occasionally or often permissible while 12% stated suicide bombings and other forms of violence are “rarely justified” in order to preserve Islam.
Looking at the rising radicalisation of Malaysians, attempts have been made to counter it, but that has not been enough.
A 2022 report by the EU-UNDP project titled ‘Preventing Violent Extremism through Promoting Tolerance and Respect for Diversity’ stated that when designing PCVE interventions, the impact on women is often overlooked or insufficiently evaluated. It recommended that integrating a gender perspective into PCVE is essential, not merely for political correctness but because it is fundamentally the right approach.
The report insisted that a gender perspective on PCVE should lay emphasis on females as victims of violent extremism, perpetrators, facilitators, supporters of violent extremism and agents in the fight against violent extremism as well. Additionally, the impact of interventions against violent extremism on women should be taken into account.
Women, who had earlier served in extremist movements, stated that deradicalization can be successful if local cultures and communities are involved. There is a need for engaging the religious leaders and also far-right nationalists whose women even endorse misogynistic beliefs towards their own gender.
Acknowledging that hard-line counterterrorism measures alone remain inadequate to address the terrorism threat, Malaysia updated its action plan last year to address violent extremism more comprehensively. The revised approach has considered political, racial, social, religious and external factors.
Instead, it focused on enforcement, rehabilitation, reinforcement and prevention. It, however, remains unclear how much of this strategy will specifically address women’s roles in violent extremism/ Perhaps, real female empowerment in Malaysia can happen if women are prioritized as much as men in the revamped de-radicalization program.
Sonia Sarkar is a journalist based in India. She writes on conflict, religion, politics, health and gender rights from Southeast Asia. Her work has appeared in a range of international publications, including the South China Morning Post, Nikkei Asia and Al Jazeera.