Two terror arrests in Malaysia in 2022
Malaysia also improve its ranking in the Global Terrorism Index.
PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia made two terror arrests last year, said deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
There were 126 terror arrests in 2016 and seven in 2020, he said in comparison according to news reports.
Ahmad did not give further details on last year's small number of cases, but said Malaysia had improved its ranking in the latest Global Terrorism Index (GTI).
Malaysia was placed 75th in the 2022 index, compared to 68th in 2021, he said.
Despite the reduced risk of terrorism, Ahmad said authorities will continue preemptive monitoring and protection measures to ensure the Malaysian public's safety.
"The National Security Council will continue its monitoring efforts together with continued support from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission," he told reporters after chairing a meeting of an antiterror committee in Malaysia's administrative capital Putrajaya recently.
He added that the Islamic Development Department of Malaysia had been instructed to form a terrorism prevention curriculum for educational institutions across all levels to prevent the spread of extremist terrorism ideologies.
"We must prevent differences in political beliefs, religious bigotry and racism from becoming a source of terrorism," he said.
"Psychological and domestic problems are also among the things that cause violence.
"The findings of a study also found that religious violence is not perpetrated by people who understand religion but by individuals who have no religious background but want a shortcut to heaven."
The GTI is an automatic ranking of countries in the world based on terrorist activities. A higher ranking indicates that the country is improving.
The nation’s largest terror incident in terms of human casualties was in 2013 when militants from the southern Philippine province of Sulu intruded into Lahad Datu district in the Malaysian Borneo state of Sabah to stake their territorial claim.
Fifty-six Sulu militants, 10 Malaysian security troops and six civilians were killed in the 41-day clash.