\u201cWe need to understand why people get radicalized into violent extremism and to provide the
\nwomen\u2019s and youth\u2019s perspectives on it,\u201d said to Komuniti Muslim Universal Malaysia founder
\nand country director Aizat Samsuddin.<\/p>\n
The key to effectively countering terrorism lies in focusing on everyday realities of women and
\nyouth during the preceding stages of fundamentalism and extremism, instead of on state-level
\npunitive approaches to identified terrorists, said Aizat.<\/p>\n
Definitions of violent extremism or terrorism are highly politicized and are determined by
\npolitical and religious actors, thus ignoring the platforms from which these individuals spring,
\nsaid Aizat.<\/p>\n
He noted the hijacking of mainly three vulnerabilities of poverty, family problems, and youth
\nangst and rebelliousness that make them open to embrace a strong politico-religious ideologies
\noffered by the likes of Jemaah Islamiah, and the Islamic State, so they may achieve their anti-
\nestablishment and life-fulfilling ideals.<\/p>\n
\u201cWomen are also both targets and perpetrators of violent extremism. For women it means
\nembracing the framework of patriarchy, to be subservient to their husbands and fulfill their
\nroles,\u201d fuelling further the subordination of women via the \u201ctyranny of patriarchy\u201d, by limiting
\ntheir workplace effectiveness, by confining them to the household, and by buying and trading
\nthem as commodities and sex slaves.<\/p>\n
On this, Aizat calls for collaboration on the collection of data to study the attitude and mindsets
\nof youth, to ascertain the reasons for increasing conservatism. Aizat was part of a panel on the
\nRegional Youth Caucus Meeting titled \u2018Youth Setting and Leading the Agenda in Countering
\nExtremism Within the Context of Women\u2019s Rights\u2019, in Kuala Lumpur.<\/p>\n
The \u201ctyranny of patriarchy\u201d as a trap is also prevalent in Indonesia, where transgender men are
\npressured to exhibit patriarchal and masculine behaviours and perspectives, and who are
\nlooked upon suspiciously should they openly fight to protect women\u2019s rights.<\/p>\n
Should that suspicion be investigated further, they may even face physical persecution and
\npublic humiliation, according to another panelist Amar Alfikar, a Muslim youth transman living
\nin Indonesia who is regularly shunned by mosques and who seeks a different mosque each
\nweek to perform the obligatory Friday Jumaah prayers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI challenge the community to move from patriarchal trends to perspectives of equality, to be
\nmore respectful to women, and to think of gender equality through classical texts like the many
\nhadiths,\u201d said Amar, who is the vice-principal of Islamic boarding school Nurul Hidayah.<\/p>\n
A similar phenomenon exists in Singapore albeit covertly, with a rise in indirect Islamophobia,
\nsocietal policing of women\u2019s dress, and more such examples, said researcher from Singapore
\nNurshirah Tabrani.<\/p>\n
Elements of progress such as female azatisas, who are in prime position to counter radical
\nideology, are concealed by how much they too reproduce patriarchal structures rather than
\nchallenge interpretations of Islam that support patriarchy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a lack of Muslim student bodies within universities that engage with gender and
\nsexuality discourses. There is a need to understand the intersectionality of gender issues and
\nthe multiple structures that work together to harm women,\u201d said Nurshirah.<\/p>\n
While she also advocates for the youth to be main agents of change, Nurshirah cautions that
\n\u201cyouth activist groups must not allow Western ideals to dictate their work, but focus on
\nsustainability, not palliative solutions\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cWe need to understand why people get radicalized into violent extremism and to provide the
\nwomen\u2019s and youth\u2019s perspectives on it,\u201d said to Komuniti Muslim Universal Malaysia founder
\nand country director Aizat Samsuddin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[72,74],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sistersinislam.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7361"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sistersinislam.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sistersinislam.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sistersinislam.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sistersinislam.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sistersinislam.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sistersinislam.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sistersinislam.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sistersinislam.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sistersinislam.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}