“The ability of the government to address the growing problem of fundamentalism and its potential to become violent will determine the security future of the Maldives.”

So warns a report on the September 29 explosion in Male’, written by one of the Government’s own security advisors and obtained by Minivan News.

The Sri Lankan born head of the Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, Dr Rohan Gunaratna, a terrorism expert at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, has argued religious education, rather than “hard security,” is the key to preventing further radicalisation in the Maldives.

Gunaratna’s report closely mirrors a government briefing compiled by a cabinet committee in March 2007. The cabinet report called for an overhaul of the Maldives’ Supreme Islamic Council, school curricula and the media, to allow the dissemination of moderate religious teachings.

Gunaratna’s report also advocates a programme of “counter ideology,” to reinforce the position of moderate Islam in the Maldives.

[Source: Minivan News]

The question is whether we can take timely action based on professional advise, or would we be driven by our emotions and zest for revenge and our culture of sadism and bullying.

In moments of truth, we seem to be most uncivilized! We, who are a hundred per cent Muslim country has failed to show any sense of respect or tolerance to anyone who does not think like we do.

There is little hope that anything can be done to activate the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs to carry out its full mandate effectively and efficiently.