Terror threat looms in SE Asia region

Terror threat looms in SE Asia region

Shefali Rekhi, Asia News Network/The Straits Times, Singapore

Shadowy armed groups of militants still haunt the Southeast
Asian region intent on building a caliphate, four years after the
war against terror commenced globally in the aftermath of the
Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington.

And despite the arrest of hundreds of militants and jihadist
leaders of the region's dreaded al-Qaeda-linked Jamaah Islamiyah
(JI) terror group, the threat of an attack still lurks.

But a large-scale attack seems unlikely, experts say, though
two of JI's top bombmakers - Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Mohd
Top - remain on the run as they are unable to muster adequate
support.

Yet, information gleaned from a host of smaller attacks and
foiled bombing plans suggests that the militants are working hard
to rebuild their network.

They are seeking new recruits, working on affiliations with
smaller like-minded groups not linked to them before and sharing
bomb-making expertise with militants elsewhere in the region -
mainly the Philippines - to make them more lethal.

Information filtering in from other countries suggests they
are also working to improve their finances and mobilizing arms.

Philippine documents revealed this week that Indonesian
militants, together with Abu Sayyaf, were soliciting funding from
Middle East financiers.

The authorities at the Kolkata Port Trust in India last week
detained an arms-laden ship - with 20 tons of explosives - bound
for Indonesia, although it was not clear who the shipment was
meant for.

The mounting insurgency in southern Thailand is another major
source of worry with experts saying the area could become a
magnet for militants from elsewhere in the region and the Middle
East.

A string of beheadings in June and 10 remote-controlled
bombings thus far indicate that the insurgents in Thai south are
taking lessons from Iraq.

"Developments in Iraq remain the biggest concern," said
Singapore based counter-terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna.

"In many of our interviews with militant groups in the region,
we found that they want to go and participate in the ongoing war
in Iraq. It is a matter of time...militants from Asia head to
Iraq," he told The Straits Times.

There is also the fear of a resurgence of the al-Qaeda in
Afghanistan with officials in Kabul saying last week that the
terror group was pushing for foreign fighters to return to the
country.

But for countries in Southeast Asia, a bigger concern should
be the fallout from Pakistan's decision to repatriate foreign
students as part of a continuing crackdown on religious schools,
long seen as the breeding ground for extremism. Students from
Malaysia, Indonesia and southern Thailand have been studying at
these schools.

So has the war on terrorism made any impact?

Terrorism-watchers are certain it has and is the reason why
security within the region is in much better shape today than it
was four years ago.

"It has become very difficult for states to sponsor terrorism
now and militants have been deterred from proceeding with many of
their plans," says Ajai Sahni, executive director of the New
Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management.