Pengaruh Kefahaman dan Penerimaan Rakyat Malaysia Terhadap Perjuangan Ideologi DAESH

The expansion of the Daesh ideology through social media is an interesting phenomenon in analysing contemporary global radicalism and terrorism. Daesh has been using several onslaught tactics, such as suicide bombing, and slaughtering and burning people to achieve its political objectives. Based on radical Salafism with heavy influence from the Wahabbi theocratic ideas, Daesh's ideological influences have spanned from the Middle East to Southeast Asia. Malaysia is no exception. The major aim of this study is, therefore, to identify attitudes and perceptions of Malaysian Muslims on Daesh. A mixed method, qualitative and quantitative, was employed through survey and focus group discussion (FGD). Respondents were randomly selected. The survey was conducted on 5,232 Malaysians who represented three selected sectors viz. defence and security, education and the general public. The data collection is divided into six different zones: the north, south, central, and eastern region of Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah, and Sarawak. Out of that, 60 respondents were chosen as the interviewees for the FGD. The result shows that only 79.2% of the Malaysians could answer correctly four out of nine questions asked regarding their understanding of Daesh. The survey reveals that 90.8% Malaysians rejected Daesh, while only 9.2% accepted the group. Malaysian acceptance and rejection to Daesh has been influenced by many factors such as family and educational backgrounds, personal problems, and access to alternative media, among others. Although the majority of the respondents rejected Daesh, their association with two strategic sectors, education and security, would be a cause for concern.