King Salman Centre for International Peace begins operations - Hishammuddin

The King Salman Centre for International Peace (KSCIP) begins operations today in a bid to correct perception of the world community towards Islam, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said.

He said a 90-day deadline was set for the KSCIP to begin its operations, right after Saudi Arabia's King Salman Abdul Aziz Al Saud visited Malaysia three months ago.

Hishammuddin, who is also Minister of Special Functions in the Prime Minister's Department, said the operations of KSCIP would involve Islamic scholars, academicians, intelligence agencies and certain centres at the regional and international levels.

"KSCIP will not only focus on military aspects, but also on academic elements, with the main role to combat terrorist threats and the spread of propaganda and ideologies bandied about by the extremists and the terrorists," he told a press conference after presenting 3,000 packs of savoury porridge to Ministry of Defence (Mindef) staff at Wisma Pertahanan here today.

He said the establishment of the KSCIP was closely related to the launch of the Global Centre for Combatting Extremist Ideology in Mu'tamarat, Nasiriyah, Riyadh, recently.

The KSCIP is now operating from a temporary office in Kuala Lumpur.

The centre is initially planned to be officially launched tomorrow by Deputy Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed Salman Al-Saud, but was postponed to after Aidilfitri for certain reasons.

Meanwhile, when asked on the clash between armed group and the Philippine army in Marawi, southern Philippine, Hishammuddin said he would seek detailed information on the matter from his Filipino counterpart, Delfin Negrillo Lorenzana.

"Mindef will not take this (clash in Marawi) lightly as it occurred in our neighbouring country and we were not spared from it... so, we will continue working closely with the public who have been our ''eyes and ears'' to prevent the group from reaching us," he said.

Prior to this, Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) chief General Tan Sri Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor said that ATM would enhance control at the border to prevent members of the armed group to escape to Malaysia.

-- BERNAMA