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This paper discusses the urban management challenges in the Greater Kuala Lumpur area. Before examining Greater Kuala Lumpur's economic and social environment, we will look at the factors that make it a competitive and fiscally sound entity. When considering urban development and redevelopment, we consider how proposed and ongoing projects, as well as plans, hierarchical links, and road networks, contributed to the increase. Because there is no urban growth boundary, land use change and rural encroachment, as well as environmental degradation and the impact of national economic projects on urban expansion, are both rapid and linear in the analysis. This paper also considers how to manage linear development that results in the creation of new suburbs. Finally, we propose strategies for achieving sustainable urban expansion and management by balancing the financial and governance capacities of Greater Kuala Lumpur local governments.

In explaining the issue, it seeks to describe the interplay of various forces, such as the Malay rulers as the head of the religion, the constitutions and various federal and state laws, the close connection between Malay and Islam, the effect of the worldwide Islamic resurgence and UMNO-PAS rivalry for political power that have directly and indirectly contributed to the proliferation of Islam in politics. While it is useful to understand the conventional theories of political science, largely developed in the West and based on the European historical experience, Islam's position in Malaysia's state identity as a case study highlights that implementing the theories without any room for variations and without due consideration to the context and forces at play could be detrimental to the country and is in itself against the spirit of development.

This Research Note provides a review of an Indonesian online library for radical materials. The objective of this review is to compile data and information that will contribute to the understanding of the online radicalisation phenomenon as well as the extremists themselves. Based on data found on the online library, this Research Note reports findings on the influence of Al-Maqdisi’s website; the emphasis on translation work of Arabic materials to Indonesian language by radicals and the value of Arabic materials to them. It also covers influential thinkers and ideologues and the use of the Wikipedia modus operandi to hasten the development of the website and effect mobilisation and recruitment, among others things. Based on the data found, this Research Note concludes that ideas matter to radicals.

This article examines the idea and practice of Bai`ah Al-Mawt (pledge of death) among contemporary jihadist groups through the lens of Islamic Sunni intellectual tradition and security studies. The article employs library research, examines materials of jihadist groups, analyses literature by researchers of security and other relevant studies, and factors in the works of classical and contemporary Sunni scholars. It concludes that Bai`ah Al-Mawt as a concept is not problematic at theological and security levels. Instead, the threat lies in the application and practice by jihadist groups of this pledge.

This article seeks to provide a descriptive and analytical perspective about how Islam can be interpreted by Muslims in plural societies with two contrasting results. Building on those results, this article provides two other variations, thus providing a spectrum of views on Islam and a plural society in one continuum. The article also offers an extrapolation of Muslim attitudes and treatment of non- Muslims in two different contexts; where Muslims are a majority group or as a minority in a non-Muslim country. The two contexts are chosen because they represent the contemporary setting, in which many Muslims find themselves today. Finally, the article offers some reasons that explain the divergence of views and sometimes even contradicting interpretations that influence and shape Muslim attitudes towards plural societies. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

One of the arguments put forth by the so-called Islamic State (IS) to urge Muslim youths to wage jihad and travel to Iraq and Syria centres on the irrelevance of parental consent. IS has interpreted its jihad as fard àyn (personal obligation) whereby Muslim youths do not need to feel guilty about ignoring their parents’ disapproval. This article seeks to refute the above argument using the story of Uwais Al-Qarni who was not able to migrate to Medina and participate in jihad as he was taking care of his aged mother in Yemen. Although this refutation specifically counters IS ideology, it could also be applied to similar religious justifications by other terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda (AQ) and Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).

This article reviews and rebuts the theological justification of suicide bombing by terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda and the socalled Islamic State (IS). It argues that the justification forwarded by these extremist groups is erroneous by exposing the discrepancy in the analogy between acts of inghimas (self-immersion into enemy ranks), the key argument used in the justification, and contemporary forms of suicide attacks.