RSIS Distinguished Public Lecture by Mr Shaarik H. Zafar, Special Representative to Muslim Communities, Department of State, United States of America (RSIS)

America’s economic and strategic opportunities are among the most compelling in the Asia-Pacific. The U.S. rebalance to Asia is focused on deepening strategic, economic, and diplomatic ties with the region commensurate with its importance, as the region is home to four of the U.S.’s top ten trading partners, five of the U.S.’s seven treaty alliances, and the world’s largest and fastest growing economies—including 40 percent of overall global growth and nearly two-thirds of the global middle class. Among the challenges present in the region, countering violent extremism has certainly captured the world’s attention in the past two years, a phenomenon recently associated with the establishment of a so-called Caliphate by the Islamic State group. Home to sizeable Muslim communities and encompassing a wide variety of Islamic practices and traditions, countries in Asia find themselves challenged by fractionalization of Islamist political outfits, growing rates of Islamophobia and youth radicalization.

In light of this, the region struggles to address some of its political limitations, such as the mischievous exploitation of race and religion for electoral and political purposes, the failure to focus on sustainable development and education, and the failure to craft policies aimed at enhancing multiculturalism. In this seminar, the speaker will explain how the USA engages Muslim communities in Asia, to address the challenges posed by violent extremism, to enhance its relations with the Muslim communities and to find innovative solutions to the common challenges faced by the US and Muslim communities in Asia

http://www.rsis.edu.sg/event/rsis-distinguished-public-lecture-by-mr-shaarik-h-zafar-special-representative-to-muslim-communities-department-of-state-united-states-of-america/#.V0ve2DWLTIU