Senseless act can't help radical Islam<\/p>\n
The Statesman, Asia News Network, Calcutta<\/p>\n
Acts of violence are often referred to as senseless, and for
\nthe most part that is what they are. Last weekend's bomb attacks
\nat Kuta beach on the largely Hindu island of Bali are senseless
\nspecifically because their consequences can and will only help
\nthose that radical Islamic groups count as their enemies.<\/p>\n
Immediately, they will help Australian Prime Minister John
\nHoward consolidate his support to the Western alliance against
\nterror. An Australia that strives to be multi-cultural had been
\nstruggling with its conscience these past 13 months over Howard's
\nunstinted support to U.S. President George Bush.<\/p>\n
Many Australians were ambivalent about their country's
\nposition in the war against terror, believing they were better
\noff keeping as far away from the war as their location allowed
\nthem to be.<\/p>\n
Indeed, there were in past months several and determined
\nprotests against Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock's action
\nagainst the boat people -- many of them Muslim -- who sought
\nsanctuary in Australia and were turned away.<\/p>\n
The weekend's events can only serve to dilute such protests.
\nWhile reports suggest that a few Australians reacted angrily to
\nthe attack in Bali and accused Howard of having blood on his
\nhands, most Australians now seem to believe terror has visited
\ntheir doorstep, and that they must now join the war against it
\nwithout reservation.<\/p>\n
In Indonesia, President Megawati Soekarnoputri had in the
\nprevious months walked the tightrope between Western pressures
\nand domestic compulsions, ignoring demands for a crackdown on
\nIslamic fundamentalism.<\/p>\n
Now, and if she wants any outside help for her severely
\nbruised economy, Megawati will have to act against fringe groups,
\nand be seen to act. One report from Southeast Asia suggests that
\nthe traditionally placid Hindus of Bali are so incensed by the
\nweekend's events that they may engineer a backlash against
\nMuslims on the island.<\/p>\n
This cannot be good news for a country that is already
\nsmarting at the loss of East Timor. Neighbor Singapore has
\nreceived Western appreciation for its crackdown on terror. In the
\naftermath of Bali the "we told you so" refrain has already been
\nheard in statements made by government leaders to the sizable
\nMuslim community on the island.<\/p>\n
Muslim-dominated Malaysia will similarly have to act against
\nradical Islamic groups, or face the threat of Western
\ndisapproval. Indonesia and Malaysia were once seen in the West as
\npresenting the softer face of Islam; they will now have to work
\ndoubly hard on that image.<\/p>\n
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has told the House of
\nCommons that the events in Bali underscore the need to move the
\nwar against terror into a higher gear and appears to have the
\ntotal support of the Conservatives. The message from the West,
\npost-Bali, is that all agents of terror have to be dealt with
\nseverely. Blair, for instance, was at pains to emphasize that the
\nevents in Bali and the need to tackle Saddam Hussein could not be
\ntreated as separate issues, but were in fact part of the same
\nwar. Liberals who may a week ago have labeled such reasoning
\nspecious will now find it difficult to articulate their
\nobjections.<\/p>\n
It is the lunatic fringe that is blamed for acts of violence
\nsuch as those Bali witnessed. When you add up the consequences of
\nthis single act, the conclusion is inescapable -- it would have
\nrequired a truly insane Muslim to plan such an attack.<\/p>",
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