KUALA LUMPUR: Empowering youths is key to fighting violent extremism, says US Ambassador to Malaysia Brian McFeeters (pic).
In his speech at the launch of the Malaysian Youth as Peace Ambassadors (MYPA) programme here on Friday (June 3), McFeeters said the project was an important one aimed at empowering youths to identify and dismiss attempts to exploit social media for the promotion of violence.
“All partners in this programme have been working with youth from polytechnics and community colleges nationwide.
“With that, I also firmly believe that our young people are more than ready to tackle this global challenge alongside assisting to create a more peaceful and sustainable future for generations to come,” he said.
He added that the programme would allow student leaders to learn concepts and strategies to navigate social media and report potential extremism and terrorism threats to the education authorities.
“At the same time, the training will also equip students to engage on the importance of diversity and multiculturalism across race and religion to encourage a sense of inclusion, especially among those most at risk for radicalisation,” he said.
McFeeters noted that while there have been fewer reports of terrorist attacks in the region recently, the shared commitment by both Malaysia and the United States to further diminish terrorist networks remained strong.
The MYPA programme which runs until Sunday (June 5) brings together more than 120 student leaders from 13 tertiary institutions nationwide to a four-day programme to build their resilience against radicalisation.
It aims to develop students as peace messengers and ambassadors on both online and offline platforms and is jointly organised by the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilisation of the International Islamic University (Istac-IIUM), the South-East Asia Regional Centre for Counter-Terrorism (SEARCCT), youth media organisation MyKampus Radio (MKR) and the US Embassy of Kuala Lumpur.
Also present at the launch were SEARCCT director-general Datuk Ganeson Sivagurunathan, Istac-IIUM dean Prof AbdelAziz Berghout, IStac-IIUM Postgraduate and Responsible Research deputy dean Prof Waleed Fekry Faris, MYPA 2022 grant principal Associate Prof Dr Danial Mohd Yusof and MKR general manager Praba Ganesan.
