Singapore (AsiaNews) - The unanimous condemnation of the terrorist Islamic State group (IS) by ASEAN defence ministers is a significant statement, said Singapore's Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, who spoke yesterday at the end of the annual meeting of the group's defence ministers in Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia.
Noting the presence of Muslim-majority nations in the 10-member grouping, like Indonesia and Malaysia, Dr Ng said that defence ministers acknowledged that ASEAN citizens faced a danger of radicalisation by IS and other extremist ideologies and that this threat needed to be neutralised.
At the end of the ninth ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM), all ASEAN ten defence ministers issued a joint statement declaring they were unanimous that the Islamic State group posed a security threat to the region and globally.
"The fact that (the condemnation) is unanimous; the fact that the threat is clearly identified (and) is against all ASEAN member states; the fact that this threat needs to be neutralised - I think (this) is a very powerful statement by ASEAN," Minister Ng told Bloomberg.
Indeed, the defence ministers' unanimity on the issue "reduces the risk of racial tensions" vis-à-vis ASEAN members' domestic audiences.
For him, "this has nothing to do with Islam. This is really false ideologies perpetuated by these extremists."
In view of the situation, Singapore plans to host a symposium next months for East Asia Summit countries to share best practices on de-radicalisation and religious rehabilitation, Dr Ng said.
As already reported by AsiaNews, Southeast Asian Islamic fundamentalist movements and leaders have found inspiration in the exploits of Sunni fighters and back their struggle for the creation of the Caliphate, which now branches out into various regions of Asia.
Extremist cells and recruiters are active as much in Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world, as in neighbouring Malaysia and the Philippines. Jihadists are operating in these countries, preparing attacks against pubs, discos and bars, dreaming of the Islamic caliphate.
Despite this, more and more Islamic scholars, experts, and activists around the world have signed an Open Letter to the self-styled "caliph" of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The letter published a few months ago and signed so far by120 Islamic representatives and scholars is one of the few examples in which important Muslims take a clear stance against this Islamic terrorist movement.
After conquering large swathes of land in Iraq and Syria in just a few months, and pursuing the ideology of jihad, IS wants to establish a new "Caliphate" embracing Africa, the Middle East and Asia with the goal of conquering symbolically charged places in Europe.
Addressing the IS leader, Muslim intellectuals and religious leaders have accused him of betraying Islam and interpreting it as "religion of violence, torture, brutality and murder".
In the letter, the signatories stress doctrinal elements, such as the ban on issuing fatwas (religious edicts) without following Islamic legal theory provided by the "Classical texts".
They add that "It is also forbidden to cite a portion of a verse from the Qur'an - or part of a verse - to derive a ruling without looking at everything that the Qur'an and Hadith teach related to that matter."
They note for instance that Islam forbids the killing of the "innocent," ignoring "the reality of contemporary times," and killing "emissaries, ambassadors, and diplomats," not to mention "journalists and aid workers".
Lastly, they point out that the Islamic religion does not include any abuse and persecution against Christians and other People of the Book, forced conversions or attributing violent acts to the will of God.