Perception and Attitudes toward Terrorism in a Muslim Majority Country

Abstract

The purpose of this research article is to examine and to ascertain whether general public in a Muslim majority country do support organized violence and terrorism. The discussion focuses on Malaysia as a case study. The study adopted a quantitative approach with questionnaires being used as the instrument for data collection. The data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The results show that the Malaysian public do not support terrorism. The findings also found that ethnicity and religiosity have important bearings toward political violence and terrorism. Malay-Muslims, for instance, tend to exhibit some inclinations toward aggressive attitude compared to that of non-Malay Muslims. Furthermore, the study also found that gender, race, religion and occupation do play a part in determining perception on acts of terror.