KUALA LUMPUR, April 4 -- Government and political leaders must defuse unrest over the "Allah" socks controversy before extremism can take root in multiracial Malaysia, experts warned

Preventing and countering violent extremism (PCVE) expert Altaf Deviyati said such action was also needed to prevent the simmering tensions from boiling over into ethnic and religious conflict within Malaysia.

"From the PCVE perspective this is a classic case of how a local issue ignites and allows for violent acts to be so called permitted in the name of defending religion.

"To contain it, this is when local (community) leaders (non-governmental organisations, school or religious leaders) are needed, to dampen the tension," Altaf told Malay Mail when cont...