World Tribune.com


A SENSE OF ASIA

Southeast Asia: A miasma of terrorism writhes


See the Sol Sanders Archive

By Sol Sanders
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM

Sol W. Sanders

May 6, 2004

A bloody clash between Thai military and mostly teenage, poorly armed Moslem terrorists in late April are part of a growing network of Islamicist fundamentalists who threaten stability throughout Southeast Asia. More than a hundred young fanatics were killed in clashes in three southern Thailand provinces. There was a troubling more sophisticated simultaneous attack with heavier weapons on a Thai border post. Authorities moved when they were tipped off the terrorists would raid police and military posts to arm themselves. The past year has seen a spate of killings of police, teachers, a local Moslem member of parliament, and burning of government schools in the area.

As with most recent terrorist explosions ø from Madrid to the southern Philippines ø there are conflicting reports of who, what, and why the rebels are and did. Prime Minister Thaksin insists they were simply drugged gangsters, notorious on the Thai-Malaysian border. On the other hand, a local Moslem preacher claimed the rebels were martyrs, a new manifestation of the old separatist movement in the five southern Thai provinces with Moslem majorities. They hark back to the day when Patani, the metropolis of the area, was the center of a pre-Islamic, later Moslem, kingdom in the present southern Thailand-Malaysian-Indonesian area.

But itÕs clear as elsewhere, these youngsters were imbued with fanatic concepts based on a perverted Islamic dogma. There is some evidence they were, as in Pakistan, the product of ÒpedockÓ [traditional Islamic Koranic academies], in an area that has profited little from the prosperity in the rest of Thailand. And there is some evidence ÒcharityÓ funds from Moslem overseas organizations support these schools, giving them little except religious fanaticism to face the poor economy.

Most troubling about the outbreak is its implications for the region. While relatively remote, the Thai-Malaysian border area has good communications to the rest of Southeast Asia. Next door are MalaysiaÕs most traditional Moslem areas, including the border state of Kelantan, still ruled by an Islamicist party which advocates a fundamentalist regime for all Malaysia. The new Malaysian prime minister, himself a pious Moslem, Abdullah Bandar, recently beat back an election threat by the fundamentalists. But, ironically, their failure at the polls may tip their ultras toward extra-legal activity.

Thai authorities claim local Moslems have trafficked in weapons to the Achenese rebels fighting Djakarta for independence of an old sultanate on the northern tip of Sumatra. One of the dead ø they came on motorcycles ø had clothes identifying him as a member of the Jemaah Islamiya [JI], the terrorist umbrella group who killed more than 200 people in the December 2002 Bali bombing. The JI, caught before it could launch a series of attacks on American installations in Singapore, proposes an Islamic state incorporating all of Moslem Southeast Asia. It is believed to have close links to Osama Ben LadinÕs Al Qaeda. Its mastermind, Hambali [Riduan Ismuddin], a Javanese from Indonesia, now in American hands, ÒsomewhereÓ, was captured in Bangkok with Thai aid. Indonesian authorities, fearful of an Islamic backlash in the current elections, have had his close collaborator, a religious leader, Bashir, in and out of prison. The JI has connections to Islamic terrorists among the Moro population in the southern Philippines where it trained members of the Abu Sayyaf, a half Islamicist, half bandit outfit who have kidnapped foreigners and fought the Philippines army and police to a standstill.

The Thai Prime Minister bristled at almost immediate accusations from sympathetic Malaysians [and US human rights groups] of excessive use of force. MalaysiaÕs government backed off an early statement criticizing the Thais, but did offer assistance to ÒrefugeesÓ. Malaysia has sent a delegation to Bangkok to talk border cooperation. But despite such professions on both sides in the past, the history of the border is a troubled one. Remnants of the Chinese [ethnic] Communist insurgency in Malaya put down by British forces before MalaysiaÕs independence in 1957 ø ÒThe EmergencyÓ officially ended in 1960 ø continued to operate from Thailand for several years. The jungled mountain terrain is perfect for guerrilla activity.

Bangkok has dealt with the separatists in the area in the past with a combination of good works and police suppression. And in fact until about a year or so ago, they seem to have melted away. The Thai military moved this time with alacrity, apparently hoping to stamp out any local organization that might tie up with the international terroristsÕ operations. The danger is, of course, suppression without attention to such problems as local corrupt officials and lack of development, may create just the sort of environment friendly to a terrorist network. Unfortunately, 32 of the dead were killed when they holed up in PattaniÕs 425-year-old Kreu-Sae mosque, just the sort of martyrdom on which their leadership thrives. Like several other areas, it could become a sanctuary and center for terrorists operating throughout the region if the Thais are not effective.

Sol W. Sanders, (solsanders@comcast.net), is an Asian specialist with more than 25 years in the region, and a former correspondent for Business Week, U.S. News & World Report and United Press International. He writes weekly for World Tribune.com.

May 6, 2004

Print this Article Print this Article Email this article Email this article Subscribe to this Feature Free Headline Alerts


See current edition of

Return to World Tribune.com Front Cover
Your window on the world

Contact World Tribune.com at world@worldtribune.com