CENS Webinar on Extremism and Hate in Indonesia and Malaysia : A Discussion

About the Panellists and Discussants

Aizat Shamsuddin is the founder of the Initiative to Promote Tolerance and Prevent Violence (INITIATE.MY). For the past 7 years, he has been a staunch analyst and practitioner in the field of traditional and non-traditional security and its nexus with crime and ideology. This includes hate and violent extremism in the real and digital spaces, inter-group conflicts and post-pandemic organised crime – in the context of Southeast Asia and Muslim-majority. For most of the time, he leads niche database development, writes commissioned reports and engages in policy discussions. In doing these, his priorities are to minimise the threats to security and promote preventive measures for resilience. In recognition of his work in peace and security, he received Australia Awards scholarship from Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and ASEAN in 2018. Aizat obtained a master’s degree from the University of Melbourne in 2020 specialising in counterterrorism, conflict studies and political Islam. Aizat was also trained in Sharia and law in a 5-year bachelor’s degree at the Islamic Science University of Malaysia. He is an alumnus of German Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations and American Council of Young Political Leaders since 2018.

Dr. Ahmad El-Muhammady is an Assistant Professor at the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilisation (ISTAC-IIUM). Besides that, he holds various external positions such as Associate Fellow at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT), The Hague, Netherlands; International Advisory Committee Member at Global Peace Institute (GPI), United Kingdom, Associate Research Fellow at the Accounting Research Institute (ARI), Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Malaysia, and Deputy Director, Alumni Relations Division, IIUM. Since 2011, he works closely with the Special Branch’s Counter-Terrorism Division, Royal Malaysia Police and Prison Department to implement the Rehabilitation and Deradicalisation programs for individuals detained under terrorism laws in Malaysia. Ahmad is also a member of Deradicalisation Panel and Expert/Specialist appointed by the Ministry of Home Affairs for cases investigated under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (SOSMA) 2012 and Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) 2015, which required him to testify as an expert witness during trial.

Siti Darojatul Aliah or known as her nick name Dete is the Founder and Director of SeRVE (Society against Radicalism and Violent Extremism) Indonesia.  She was formerly the Managing Director of Yayasan Prasasti Perdamaian (YPP) or Institute for International Peace Building and the board of YPP since 2010.  She has done various research on PCVE issue, such as “Perception of the Grass Root Islamic Organization towards Democracy Practices in Indonesia” (2010), “The Role of Women in Jihadist Movement in Indonesia”, “The Role of Women in Counter Violence Extremism” (2017), “The Female Deportees: The Pathways to Hijrah” (2017).  “The Role of Non-State Security Groups in Securing the Local from Violent Extremism” with University van Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2019), “The Usage of Corruption as Tool for Propaganda and recruitment by Violent Extremism Groups” (2019) “Radicalism in State University” (2019). She visits prisons to and speaks with terrorist inmates and communicates closely with the family of the terrorist inmates and former terrorist inmates as well as Indonesian deportees who were deported from Turkey and returnees from Syria. She is involved in preventing and countering violence extremism through several approaches such as assisting former and violence extremist offenders in order to disengage them  from  violence  acts;  assisting  the  wives  and  families  of former and violence extremist offenders as an agent of disengagement of their husbands and their family members; assisting Indonesian deportees who intend to  travel  to  Syria,  in  order  to  deconstruct  their  radical  thought,  befriend returnees from Syria, preventing young people and women from radical thought through different approaches.

Quinton Temby is Assistant Professor in Public Policy at Monash Indonesia. He received his PhD in political science from the Australian National University in 2017. His research interests are at the intersection of technology policy and security policy, with a background in research on violent extremism in Southeast Asia. Having consulted widely in the government and private sectors, Dr Temby’s work engages a broad range of public policy areas. Prior to joining Monash, he was a Visiting Fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, where he helped to establish the Media, Technology, and Society programme. Prior to that, he was a lecturer in the School of Arts at Murdoch University. As an increasing proportion of economic, social, and political life takes place online, his research has focused on issues arising from digital technology, such as disinformation, internet culture, and social media content moderation. At Monash Indonesia, Dr Temby teaches ATI5101 Foundations of Public Policy and a new unit on Digital Technology Policy. He is excited to be a member of the foundational academic team at Monash Indonesia and to contribute to teaching the next generation of public policy thinkers and practitioners.

Discussants

Shashi Jayakumar was educated at Oxford University where he studied History (BA 1997, D.Phil, 2001). He was a member of the Singapore Administrative Service from 2002-2017. During this time, he was posted to various Ministries, including the Ministries of Defence, Manpower, Information and the Arts, and Community Development, Youth and Sports. He was from August 2011-July 2014 a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. His research interests include extremism, cyber, social resilience, and political history. He is the editor of Perspectives on Countering Violent Extremism (Bloomsbury, April 2023, forthcoming).

Cameron Sumpter coordinates the countering/preventing violent extremism (P/CVE) thematic area of a project implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). This European Union-backed initiative (ESIWA) seeks to enhance security cooperation in and with Asia through a range of practical exchanges and engagements. Based in Berlin, Cameron travels to Asia frequently to meet stakeholders and organise activities aimed at building deeper and more constructive connections.