Poverty breeds terrorism

Poverty breeds terrorism

A perusal of the backgrounds of the suicide bombers who
wrecked havoc in Bali on Oct. 1 can serve to tell us a lot about
why there seems to be no shortage of terrorists. Mat Sukarto, a
57-year-old farmer and father of one of the bombers, said he did
not fully understand why his less-than-religiously-inclined son,
Misno, had decided to take his own life in such a manner.

Mat told this paper, as reported on Nov. 14, that his last
meeting with his 23-year-old son was in August, when he bid
farewell as Misno set off for Batam island, where he planned to
work in a hotel. Mat said he gave his son Rp 1.5 million (about
US$150) out of his meager savings.

Terrorism is a complex issue that may be connected with one or
more of the following elements: faith, patriotism, globalization,
ideology, perception, alienation, belief and poverty. Mat's case
underlines the vulnerability of the poor to becoming roped into
terrorism. Terrorist leaders like Osama bin Laden and Dr. Azahari
bin Husin may be rich, but not their foot soldiers. Tempo
magazine reported this week that Azahari was guarded by his four
accomplices when he was killed in a police raid in Batu, near the
East Java town of Malang, on Nov. 9. All four accomplices came
from the lower income brackets.

The fight against terrorism is a multi-pronged battle. The
government can draft in more police and troops, boost
intelligence capabilities, increase antiterrorism funding, set up
special antiterror units, purchase state-of-the-art weapons,
provide specialist training, and even permit foreign donors to
assist Muslim religious schools (pesantren) , but these are all
only part of the story.

It is not enough for the government to be good at fighting
terrorism physically, it must also be good at fighting poverty,
perverted ideologies, exploitation of religion for short-term
political purposes, corruption, and attempts to divert Muslims
from the true teachings of Islam, among others things.

This represents a tough challenge. With its vast coastline,
most of which is unguarded, it is not hard to see that Indonesia
is looking at a long war before the terrorists are defeated.

Among the various challenges, poverty is particularly
prominent as more than 135 million Indonesians live on less than
US$2 a day, which means below the poverty line. Thus, more than
half Indonesia's total population of 230 million people are
virtually destitute.

So behind every small step on the road to victory against the
terrorists, poverty will always be lurking in the background,
like a snake ready to strike at any time.

After poverty, the next major challenges are corruption and
the spreading of false Islamic teachings. Corruption is
indirectly responsible for rampant poverty. Unfortunately,
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has a poor record in this area
during his first year in government.

Unlike terrorism, corruption is committed silently, far from
the gaze of the public. Often, but not always, it is committed in
luxurious office buildings and in high places. It is a silent killer
responsible for keeping millions of people poor. Its effects are no
less serious than terrorism. It is silent terrorism that is very
difficult to eradicate. The fact is, no single government since
Indonesia gained its independence in 1945 has ever succeeded in
uprooting corruption.

Eradicating the evil of corruption will entail stopping the
gravy train for those in positions of power and authority --
something that could well prove next to impossible. With
corruption still commonplace, mass poverty will continue and the
terrorists will have no shortage of new recruits from the lower
rungs of society.

Muslim leaders say that Islam has never taught its followers
to kill innocent people. Since most Indonesians are Muslim, it is
time for the people and the government to work together to rid
this country of the scourge of deviant Islam. The pledge given by
Muslim leaders last week to work to this end is a good start. The
window of opportunity that has now opened must not be allowed to
slam shut.