SE Asia's threat of radicalism

SE Asia's threat of radicalism

By Eric Teo Chu Cheow

SINGAPORE: The coordinated terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center's twin towers and the Pentagon have refocused world attention on radical Muslim terrorism and highlighted, once again, the fragility of the situation in Southeast Asia.

As suspicion falls on Afghanistan-based Osama bin Laden's Muslim militant network, the concern is that an Afghan mujahideen network may well have established itself in Southeast Asia and is feeding upon the grievances of the huge, impoverished Muslim populations of Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and even Cambodia and Myanmar.

According to reports in The New York Times, Muslim fighters who had trained and fought in Afghanistan have linked up with local insurgents and other radical Muslim groups in Malaysia, Indonesia, and the southern parts of the Philippines and Thailand.

For instance, Abu Sayyaf and some groups within the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the Philippines are said to have links with the Afghan network and are supported financially by the likes of Osama and some Middle Eastern governments.

One would remember the "special" role played by Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi in helping to secure the release of foreign hostages last year from the Abu Sayyaf.

The handsome ransom paid has probably been used to buy more arms for the rebels in their fight against the Philippine military, as well as to recruit more local supporters to help fight for an Islamic state in the southern Philippines.

Today, the Philippines remains the "soft spot" of active Muslim insurgency in Southeast Asia.

It remains vulnerable because of the poverty and years of economic neglect of the south by the central authorities. The autonomy granted during the last days of the Ramos government, working hand in hand with Muslim leader Nur Misuari, has apparently not been sufficient to ease local discontent.

Over in Indonesia, there has clearly been an emergence of radical Islam in the past three years.

The return of mujahideen fighters from Afghanistan -- many of whom are Indonesians -- has more recently sparked off a radical Islamic movement in Indonesia, whose goal appears to be to "destroy the enemies of Islam".

A recently-detained leader of the radical Laskar Jihad group is said to be a mujahideen with Afghan experience. The group was instrumental in declaring a jihad (holy war) against Christians in Ambon and the Maluku islands last year.

Other radical Muslim groups are believed to have links with certain elements in the military, in particular, generals with a "green" or pro-Islamic bent who may harbor goals of destabilizing the government.

The work of Indonesian Muslim militant groups could be seen in last year's Christmas Eve bombings outside churches.

More recent attacks on bookshops and Western-style restaurants and bars in Jakarta are other worrisome indicators.

Christians among Chinese Indonesians would clearly be the prime targets on the militants' hit list of "enemies of Islam".

There are as yet no conclusive indications of direct links between the Free Aceh Movement fighters and these mujahideen fighters, but they cannot be discounted totally.

As Indonesia spans a large territory and is grappling with serious economic problems and their attendant social hardships, it provides fertile ground for the growth of such radical elements.

It is significant that presidents of Indonesia and the Philippines, Megawati Soekarnoputri and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, have agreed to join forces in addressing the Muslim insurgency problem.

In the meantime, Malaysia has made clear its determination to stamp out militant Islam.

It recently detained several people who had reportedly trained in Afghanistan, among them the son of Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) opposition leader Nik Aziz Nik Mat.

This clampdown has added another dimension to the political contest of the United Malays National Organization with PAS for the Malay electorate's political allegiance.

In southern Thailand, after years of dormancy, the Pattani United Liberation Organization was suspected to have sprung back into action earlier this year with a bomb blast in Songkhla.

This prompted newly-elected Thai Premier Thaksin Shinawatra to hold talks immediately with his Malaysian counterpart, Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

During the meeting, there was reportedly an exchange of views on the possibility of Muslim insurgency and terrorism in southern Thailand, and Thaksin was also reported to have secured closer cooperation from the Malaysian side in jointly tackling this problem.

Two other predominantly Buddhist countries in the region -- Cambodia and Myanmar -- also have indigenous Muslim communities, which may pose a problem as their members are generally less well-off than the population at large, making them possible targets of the mujahideen's message.

Muslim insurgency is on the rise in Southeast Asia, as the principal countries in the region make painful political and democratic transitions under very fragile economic and social conditions.

Intra-regional cooperation is of critical importance to contain its spread as, otherwise, it could undermine regional stability and prosperity.

The writer, a corporate consultant, is also council secretary of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs and director- general of the Pacific Basin Economic Council-Singapore.

The Straits Times / Asia News Network