Youth Minister Disagrees Video Games To Blame For Terrorism

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Video games should not be blamed for terrorism, Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman said today
Disagreeing with critics who believed otherwise, he stressed that terrorism was driven by extremist ideology
This came after police counter-terrorism head Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay urged the Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to keep tabs on violent or war-related video games
Ayob Khan, who was commenting on the mass murder at a mosque in Christchurch on Friday, believed that people who play such games are easily influenced. Negeri Sembilan mufti Mohd Yusof Ahmad went a step further and singled out PlayerUnknown's Battleground (PUBG) as a bad influence on youths. PUBG is a highly popular multiplayer shooting game where players compete to be the sole survivor. Yusof (photo) argued that the game desensitised youths to violence
Syed Saddiq countered this by saying that violence has existed long before PUBG surfaced
"Does that mean that we have to ban all games with shooting elements? I think (the problem) is bigger than that. Let's give due respect to the victims. "Do not lay (your) blame on one reason so soon," he said
Commentators had pointed out that the main suspect who carried out the Christchurch murders was into video game culture
The suspect had live-streamed his murdering spree in a fashion familiar to players of first-person shooting games, and also made references recognisable to the wider gaming community
The incident left at least 50 people dead and many more injured, including three Malaysians.  - Mkini

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