Hedayah and Singapore's Religious Rehabilitation Group discuss strategies to counter violent extremism

 A delegation from the International Centre of Excellence for Countering Violent Extremism, Hedayah, has visited the Religious Rehabilitation Group, RRG, in Singapore to explore collaboration opportunities in countering and preventing radicalisation and extremism in Muslim communities through promoting the ideals of religious moderation or (wasatiyyah).

The delegation, which was headed by Dr. Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, the Chairman of Hedayah Steering Board, and accompanied by Maqsoud Kruse, Executive Director of Hedayah, were welcomed by Salim Mohamed Nasir, Head of the RRG Secretariat, where they toured RRG's facilities.

Dr. Al Nuaimi commended RRG for its leading efforts in providing counselling and rehabilitation, and particularly its community outreach to help building community resilience in schools (madrasah), mosques and on social media and for educating communities about the correct Islamic concepts which have been misinterpreted by terrorist and extremist groups such as Al-Qaeda, Daesh, and Jemaah Islamiah.

Dr. Al Nuaimi emphasised that, "A collaboration between Hedayah and the RRG would reflect a shared commitment to countering and preventing violent extremist narratives and such mutual initiatives will help providing youth with positive and proactive alternatives through cultural and intellectual programmes aiming at protecting young people at risk of falling into violent extremism."

During the visit, Kruse discussed many important initiatives implemented by Hedayah in South East Asia region, the most visible of which are a compendium titled, "Undermining Violent Extremist Narratives in South East Asia: A How-To Guide", that contains practical advice for civil society organisations and practitioners to develop effective narratives that counter the approaches of Daesh, Al-Qaeda, Jemaah Islamiyah and other violent extremists in the region. The compendium is also available in different languages, including Bahasa, Malay and Tagalog in addition to English. Examples of counter-narratives contained in the compendium have also been uploaded into Hedayah’s Counter-Narrative Library, an online portal and database of existing, open-source counter-narratives.

Kruse also highlighted hosting the upcoming third annual, "International CVE Research Conference 2016" in Jakarta, Indonesia, between the 6th-8th December that will produce several research papers and applied and conceptual scientific studies that focuses on CVE-related threats regionally and globally with a particular focus to be given to South East Asia.

The RRG of Singapore was formed in 2003 by a group of voluntary Islamic scholars and teachers to assist in the counselling and rehabilitation of detained members of the regional terrorist group, Jemaah Islamiyah. This later expanded to include misinterpretations promoted by self-radicalised individuals and those in support of Daesh. RRG’s mission is to rectify fallacies and misinterpretation of Islamic concepts and dispel extremist and terrorist ideologies.