The police will engage religious and internet experts in their latest effort to counter the radicalisation plan of the Islamic State (IS) militant group, said inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar.

The latest initiative, dubbed Regional Digital Counter-Messaging Communication Centre (CMC), will get going in a few weeks' time, he said.

"The centre will work like the one operating in Dubai (in the United Arab Emirates). This is to reply to the radicalisation plan being spread through the social media by IS.

"We will use religious experts and people in the IT (information technology) sector to counter (all these) messages (on social media).

“This is the whole idea about CMC," he said at a press conference after attending the 36th Aseanapol Conference in Putrajaya today.

The CMC is one of the initiatives being discussed in the week-long Aseanapol Conference, where the regional top police chiefs will jointly discuss on how to tackle regional crimes and terrorism, said Khalid.

Earlier, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, who officiated at the conference, said CMC, which would synchroise its efforts with other Asean partners, would spread the message that IS is not in line with Islamic teaching.

"It is vital that this centre utilises the studies that illustrate why there is nothing at all 'Islamic' about (IS) that shamefully declares itself as such," said Najib when delivering his opening speech.

Najib urged muftis, media practitioners, and tech-savvy young people to ensure that the messages and narratives which CMC put out are solid and persuasive.

At the conference, Khalid, who once advocated the revival of the Internal Security Act (ISA), said the country did not need it anymore.

He said this was because the slew of several new security laws, which were widely condemned as draconian, were better than the ISA.
"We do not need ISA anymore. We have Pota (Prevention of Terrorism Act 2015), Poca (Prevention of Crime Act 2013) and Sosma (Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012.

"I think these combined laws are better than ISA," he said.

"We can forget about ISA. We are more comfortable with these new laws and we are confident we can maintain peace and order," he added.

He was asked to comment on some quarters who had urged the government to revive the ISA.

Khalid himself had repeatedly asked the government to ressurect ISA, justifying his call with the worsening crime index then.

He pledged today that the police will not misuse these new laws against the civil society.

He also rebutted criticism that these security laws were unable to prevent the bomb attack in Puchong from IS-linked group.

"Other advanced countries, which have their own security laws, are still being attacked," he said.