In The Jakarta Post, May 31, Harsh V. Pant asserts that

In The Jakarta Post, May 31, Harsh V. Pant asserts that
"democracy will not reduce the threat of terrorism."
He suggests that America's occupation of Iraq will spur
terrorism. This may be true, but it does not substantiate his
argument since the invasion of Iraq was never designed to bring
democracy.

He also says that democracies are more prone to terrorist
attacks than non-democracies. This claim depends on the arbitrary
definition of "terrorism", which refers to attacks on people in
stable societies, or, to attacks on Americans and their allies,
but not to attacks on people in unstable societies, or, to
attacks by Americans and their allies.

For example, no one uses the word "terrorism" for the campaign
by American-backed rebels against the Nicaraguan government in
the 1980s, or for massacres by factions in the recent war in the
Democratic Republic of Congo, even though these killed far more
civilians than all the attacks by all the terrorist
organizations, mentioned in Pant's article, put together.

His claim that "democracies are more tempting targets for
terrorists" is not borne out by al-Qaeda-linked attacks in
countries as diverse as the USA, Kenya, Spain, Yemen, Saudi
Arabia, Afghanistan and Indonesia. What is clear is that al-Qaeda
developed mainly in Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan, two countries
where the U.S. backed Islamic extremists.

It may be tempting to blame democracy for terrorism in
Indonesia. Plainly, the fall of Soeharto allowed Jamaah Islamiyah
leaders to return to Indonesia. It also led to the struggle to
oust president Abdurrahman Wahid and the sectarian conflicts in
Ambon and Poso, which allowed Jamaah Islamiyah to grow
undisturbed by security forces until they switched targets from
Indonesian Christians to foreigners.

But, democracy is not the real cause. Under a democratic
government, radical exile groups might never have grown in the
first place. The struggle against president Wahid reflected the
weak institutional mechanisms bequeathed by Soeharto. The Ambon
and Poso conflicts had roots deep in the past. The mentality of
security forces, which is more concerned about people writing
about terrorists than about the terrorists themselves, is another
legacy from the New Order.

More democracy, not more repression, is the only way to move
beyond these problems.

JOHN HARGREAVES
Jakarta