KUALA LUMPUR, The Southeast Asia Regional Centre for Counter-Terrorism (SEARCCT) has conducted 116 programmes that have benefitted 4,886 participants from various target groups from January 2018 to August this year, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.
Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Mohamad Alamin said among the participants who have joined these programmes were government officials, law enforcement officers, and the general public, including academics, youth, university students, and civil society organisations.
“Of the total participants, 4,425 were local, while the rest were international attendees.
“These programmes have successfully improved participants’ knowledge and capabilities in counter-terrorism. They were carried out in collaboration with various organisations, including leading agencies in countering terrorism, private entities, and think tanks from within and outside the country,” he said.
He was replying to a question from Lee Chuan How (PH-Ipoh Timor), who asked the government to present an overview of SEARCCT’s effectiveness from January 2018 to August 2023.
Mohamad added that SEARCCT’s effectiveness is proven in its execution of training and capacity-building programmes, as well as active involvement in research initiatives, raising public awareness, and online radicalisation prevention through the development and dissemination of counter-narratives.
“SEARCCT has also introduced a lecture series aimed at building a ‘mental firewall’ among students in higher education institutions so that they are not easily influenced by violent extremist ideologies.
“Special workshops were organised using cross-disciplinary approaches such as basketball, futsal, e-sports, and art as platforms to raise awareness and develop skills in preventing violent extremism,” he added.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency