http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=13586870 Monday, 11 October , 2004, 10:20
South-east Asian terror network still dangerous By Karl Malakunas in Singapore Two years of raids, arrests and unprecedented regional co-operation have severely damaged South-east Asia's Islamic extremist network, but security analysts liken it to a wounded beast still capable of wreaking enormous havoc. The Bali bombings, which occurred two years ago on Tuesday and killed 202 people, triggered a major crackdown on the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) organisation that was blamed for the attacks and other Islamic militants. About 300 alleged terrorists have been detained in South-east Asia since the Bali bombings, including the most prized scalp of Hambali, the JI leader with close links to Al Qaeda, who was caught in Thailand 14 months ago. In Indonesia, JI's major operational base and most fertile breeding ground, more than 30 JI members have been captured and sentenced for the Bali blasts, including three who are now on death row. JI's alleged spiritual leader, Abu Bakar Bashir, is also in a Jakarta prison awaiting trial on his involvement in last year's bombing of the JW Marriott Hotel in the Indonesian capital that left 12 people dead. Accused Islamic militants have similarly been detained in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and even Cambodia, partly due to regional government's sharing intelligence and co-operating like never before. The Philippines, with training aid from the US military, has also worked hard to close JI training camps in the south of the country after much pressure from neighbouring countries. Security analyst Zachary Abuza, East Asian Studies Programme director at Simmons College in the United States, told AFP the multi-pronged crackdown of the past two years had significantly weakened JI. "But, I think JI has proved very resilient in being able to tap new leaders and certainly recruit new members... they are far from defeated," Abuza said, citing last month's attack on the Australian embassy in Jakarta as an example. "The fact they wanted to attack a hard target symbolises the confidence they have. They could have gone and blown up another nightclub but they didn't." Andrew Tan, an associate professor at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore, agreed that JI's strike on the Australian embassy was an important symbol of the organisation's resilience. "The fact that they detonated a mini-bus bomb right outside the Australian embassy despite the close attention of security agencies demonstrates they still have the capability to carry out these (major) attacks," Tan said. Even capturing bomb making expert Azahari Husin and charismatic recruiter Noordin Mohammed Top, JI's most senior leaders still on the run, would not dramatically curtail the organisation, Tan and Abuza warned. He listed Afghan war veteran Zulkarnaen, current head of military operations for JI, and electronics expert Dulmatin as two senior figures within the organisation capable of leading it. However, Abuza said that, with each high-profile attack leading to more intense pressure from authorities, many within JI were looking to renew their focus on pre-2002, grass-roots tactics. One of the region's most respected security analysts, the International Crisis Group's Sidney Jones, has also written of JI's internal divisions over major bomb attacks and the revulsion many Muslims feel over mass-casualty strikes. In this respect, Abuza said the recent pick-up in sectarian violence in parts of Indonesia and southern Thailand had been one of the most significant developments in the Southeast Asian terrorism theatre. "When I look back at what JI was doing in their formative years, they were not blowing things up. They were engaged in sectarian violence," Abuza said. "They were creating the conditions of discontent and raising tensions. And, they created a pool of willing recruits who were indoctrinated into the jihad." Abuza linked JI to the recent violence on the Indonesian islands of Maluku and Poso, which have long been scenes of Muslim-Christian conflict, as well as the renewed insurgency in the Muslim-majority southern provinces of Thailand. In Thailand, the government has denied JI role in the insurgency, which has continued sporadically for decades but claimed 320 lives since sparking back into life in January. Tan also disagreed with Abuza, saying the Thai insurgency was a local separatist push not linked to regional and global Islamic extremist networks. But, citing the Thai army's storming of a mosque and killing of more than 100 alleged insurgents in April this year, Tan warned the government's handling of the situation there could create the conditions for JI to infiltrate. "The over-emphasis on force and military muscle could transform the separatist movement," Tan said. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> $9.95 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything. http://us.click.yahoo.com/J8kdrA/y20IAA/yQLSAA/BRUplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> *************************************************************************** Berdikusi dg Santun & Elegan, dg Semangat Persahabatan. 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