Intellectual Security Chair Disseminates Moderation Culture: Professor

      Prince Naif Chair for Intellectual security is established to support efforts of disseminating security in the four corners of society and to foster moderation of Islam, says Dr. Khalid Al-Drais, director of Prince Naif Chair, in an interview with Resalah newspaper.

      Resalah: When was the chair established?

Dr. Khalid: The chair was announced to be established in September 2007. In November 2007, Prince Naif program for Intellectual security studies was launched.

Resalah: What are the foremost accomplishments of the chair?

Dr. Khalid: A preparatory workshop for the first national conference was held; the intellectual security forum, running for four days in tandem with the Teachers’ College, was held; Prince Naif program for Intellectual security studies was launched; strategy of the chair was chalked out; chair plan of action for the coming six months was worked out; a female work team was forged to supervise the chair activities amongst women; and the chair website is ready to launch.

Resalah: What is the mechanism of the chair?

Dr. Khalid: The committee assigned is to achieve the chair activities the way it sees proper. It shall conduct researches based upon creativity and innovation. It shall study the phenomena affecting on the intellectual security. It shall redress the erroneous, digressed ideas. It shall sponsor the intellectual debate based upon moderation.

Resalah: How can you activate the community participation?

Dr. Khalid: We do not wait for people to come. Instead, we go for them. Days after establishing chair, we made ads on the national newspapers on the preparatory workshop for the national conference on the intellectual security and said we were ready to receive feedbacks and opinions. You could not imagine the volume of feedbacks we had. We still receive feedbacks up to the minute.

Resalah: Is there any chair running the same activities?

Dr. Khalid: As far as I know, there is no chair conducting same activities on intellectual security worldwide. Yet, there are other research centers running activities on terrorism and crime combating; rumors check; and public opinion mainstream. However, they are not specialized on intellectual security. The first in kind, exclusive chair is a challenge we have taken up. We are looking forward to have an international fame on tackling the intellectual security affairs.