KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 12 — Twenty-seven per cent of Muslims in Malaysia feel that suicide bombings can “often or sometimes” be justified if in defence of Islam, a Washington-based survey revealed on the 12-year anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.
The 2013 Spring Pew Global Attitudes Survey by Pew Research Centre also found that a notable 12 per cent of those surveyed here feel that such bombings can be justified but on rare occasions.
At least one in five or 20 per cent hold “favourable” views of the Al-Qaeda network, the terror organisation that has been pinned as responsible for many devastating terrorist attacks across the globe..
“In some countries, substantial minorities of Muslims say attacks on civilians are at least sometimes justified to defend Islam from its enemies,” said the Pew report here.
“In Malaysia, however, roughly a quarter of Muslims (27 per cent) take the view that attacks on civilians are sometimes or often justified.”
The sentiment appeared to have increased slightly from the last survey in Malaysia in 2007, when 26 per cent of Malaysian Muslims surveyed believed that suicide bombings are “often or sometimes” justified.
Malaysian Muslims’ attitude towards suicide bombings were in stark contrast with its neighbour Indonesia, where only six per cent of Muslims surveyed felt the same way.
In comparison, Malaysians had more in common with Lebanon, where 33 per cent of Muslims surveyed felt that suicide bombings are justified, and in Egypt at 25 per cent.
Most Malaysian Muslims mostly view Afghanistan-based Islamic fundamentalist political movement the Taliban unfavourably, with 47 per cent rejecting them.
However, almost half of those surveyed hold no opinion towards radical Sunni Islamic militant group al-Qaeda at 48 per cent.
Meanwhile, the number of Malaysian Muslims favouring Palestinian Sunni Islamist group Hamas are almost equal with those who do not, or hold no opinion.
On the other hand, there are more Malaysian Muslims supporting Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based Shia Islamic militant group and political party, than those who do not, at 35 per cent compared to 28 per cent.
For the report, Pew surveyed Muslim respondents from 11 Muslim-majority countries, including Turkey, Egypt, Senegal, Lebanon, Tunisia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Jordan, and Indonesia.
Between March and April this year, a total of 822 adults were surveyed in Malaysia using Bahasa Malaysia, English, and Mandarin.
Seven in ten Malaysian Muslims surveyed also saw Islamic extremism as a threat locally, compared to less than half (48 per cent) among Indonesians surveyed.
“In Malaysia, Muslims are much more worried than their Buddhist countrymen about Islamic extremism (70 per cent vs. 46 per cent),” the report said.
Muslims are Malaysia’s largest religious group at around 17.3 million, or 61.3 per cent of the 28.3 million population, followed by Buddhists at about 5.5 million, according to the most recent census at 2010.
Azahari Husin and Noordin Mohamad Top, two Muslim extremists from Malaysia and suspects of the Bali bombings in Indonesia, were formerly in both countries’ most wanted lists before their deaths.
Malaysians went into security alert this week after a stand-off between Philippine troops and Muslim rebels from a Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) faction in Zamboanga, Mindanao, near the East Malaysian state of Sabah.
This comes as Sabah recovered from a bloody skirmish in Lahad Datu earlier this year against a self-confessed Sulu sultanate army, which led to 68 deaths among the Sulu army, nine among Malaysian forces, and six civilians.
The sultanate was allegedly excluded from the peace process between Malacañang and Muslim separatists Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a splinter group of MNLF.
MILF and Abu Sayyaf, another MNLF splinter group, have both been accused of receiving military training and funds from al-Qaeda.
Putrajaya had also offered to assist peace dialogues in between the Thailand government and South Thailand Muslim insurgents earlier this year, including the National Revolutionary Front (BRN).
