By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
A ’HACKATHON’ project will be set up in Melbourne’s south-east to help deter young Muslims from violent extremism.
The area has been identified as a hotspot for action after radicalised teenager Numan Haider was shot dead by police outside Endeavour Hills Police Station and fellow Lyndale Secondary College student Irfaan Hussein Hussein was reportedly killed in Syria fighting for Islamic State.
The MYHACK hackathon is the brainchild of anti-terrorism academic Dr Anne Aly and is backed by LaTrobe federal MP Jason Wood.
It will challenge teams of young people of Muslim and non-Muslim backgrounds to come up with solutions to stop youths being lured into Daesh, otherwise called Islamic State.
Mr Wood has called for more action on the issue of radicalised youth from Islamic community leaders.
“By all account leaders of Islamic communities in Australia are doing their best to discourage this kind of involvement, but much like how people also argue that it’s a parents’ responsibility to guide their children away from drugs, sometimes things happen right under their noses which they’re unaware of.”
He said he liked the MYHACK “concept of youth being the agents of change for their own generation”.
“The great aspect of this program is that the young people come up with practical solutions – particularly when it comes to online solutions which is the space that Daesh primarily use to recruit our youth.
“At least four ideas will come out of it which will then be turned in to practical measures,” he said.
Islamic Council of Victoria secretary Seyfi Seyit, who teaches at a south-east Islamic school, said he needed to find out more about the “ambitious” hackathon.
“I’m sceptical about those types of ideas. It’s crucial it has the right framework, otherwise it’s just an experiment without sustainability.”
He said the “real solution” lay in strengthening social cohesion.
Mr Seyit said many young Muslims felt “this society doesn’t really accept them”; of them a tiny minority” were being radicalised.
He said factors included mental health, family breakdown, unease with the Syrian conflict, rising Islamophobia and the IS propaganda machine spruiking a message of ‘you must kill these people or you’re a copout’.
He labelled the IS online campaign as “very clever marketing” and “very effective for a small percentage of young impressionable people”.
“Some of these young people think it’s cool to be keyboard warriors.
“It’s a chance for them to vent their anger.
“Face to face, they are shy and unable to express themselves. Behind a keyboard they get into arguments – it’s a feeling of empowerment, a type of euphoria.”
He said the Muslim community needed to take leadership to support their youth.
“If we don’t, we’ve failed them.”
He admitted the issue was “overwhelming” and required Islamic Council and State Government guidance and finding the “right people” in the community to tackle the issue.
“As a community, they don’t know where to start.
“Most of the community are fairly average. We don’t have sophisticated skills working in the community in this way, skills in radicalisation and strategic planning.
“They’re overwhelmed, these young people are popping out of the blue.”
