The Christian Science Monitor, May 11, 2004
World > Asia Pacific
Southeast Asia violence vexes security cooperation
[Photo: RETURN TO FIGHTING: Militants in Ambon, Indonesia, pointed to a bullet
hole during a week of Christian-Muslim violence last month that left at least 36 dead.
DITA ALANGKARA/AP]
By Simon Montlake | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
BANGKOK, THAILAND – An upsurge in violence in disputed corners of Southeast
Asia has highlighted the limits to regional antiterror initiatives in the face of unsolved
political grievances.
Conflicts once considered to be largely contained are among the recent flare-ups.
Security forces in Thailand's mostly Muslim south shot and killed over 100 separatist
rebels who launched coordinated attacks last month on police stations across four
provinces.
And renewed fighting in Indonesia between Muslims and Christians in Ambon, capital
of the Maluku Islands, has left at least 36 dead since April 25.
After being jolted into action by the October 2002 Bali bombings, governments in
Southeast Asia tightened the screws on international terrorist groups and their local
offshoots. Officials say cooperation has yielded tangible results in the form of more
arrests, foiled terror attacks, and tighter financial controls. But joining forces to tackle
security threats deemed to be local affairs is less palatable.
Indonesia has insisted on its sovereignty over the Maluku conflict, despite pleas from
Christian groups for UN intervention and mediation. The recent riots threaten to
undermine a February 2002 peace pact brokered by the government after three years
of violence left 5,000 dead. Investigators have since uncovered how Al Qaeda and its
affiliates used the years of fighting as a cover for recruitment, indoctrination, and
training.
"The government has been successful in uncovering those terrorist networks involved
in the Bali bombing," says Dharmawan Ronodipuro of Indonesia's coordinating desk
for counterterrorism. "We still have a lot to do to address the long-term root causes [of
terrorism]."
In the case of Thailand, the bloodshed made April 28 the worst day of violence since a
low-level Muslim insurgency reemerged in January after decades of relative calm.
Kuala Lumpur has bristled at Bangkok's allegations that Muslim separatists are
taking cover across the border in Malaysia, exploiting close kinship ties between the
communities. Malay politicians also criticized Thai troops for storming a historic
mosque in Pattani during the fighting.
Over the weekend, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra visited Pattani, where he
met with ambassadors and diplomats from at least 12 Muslim countries. He pledged
to restore the shot-up mosque, taking a step toward smoothing prickly relations that
analysts say confound cooperation against a common threat. "The general feeling is
that we can't call on Malaysia for help because this is our business," said
Chayachoke Chulasiriwongse, professor of international relations at Chulalongkorn
University in Bangkok.
Prime Minister Shinawatra has tried to quash suggestions by his own advisers that
foreign terror groups are muscling into the area. However, security forces say that
seven of the militants killed April 28 may be Indonesians, raising fears that Jemaah
Islamiyah (JI), or another terrorist network, was involved.
For officials trying to clamp down on groups like JI, flare-ups in Thailand and Ambon
are a troubling development. The fear is that just as the Maluku conflict has played
into the hands of radicals trying to incite terrorism in Indonesia, a festering Islamic
insurgency in Thailand could feed a wider cause.
"JI is looking at this area. They have a large pool of wannabe Muslim extremists to
draw on," said Paul Quaglia, a security consultant in Bangkok and former CIA official.
"They are asking: Is this is a place where we can open up a front for jihad?"
Armed separatists have for decades sought to reclaim three southern provinces that
were formerly an independent Muslim sultanate. The rebellion fizzled out in the 1980s,
but has since revived with a fresh infusion of Muslim radicals that have stepped up
attacks on government targets and personnel.
"You can go after operatives that make bombs and target these individuals, but
[southern Thailand] is going back to guerrilla war," says Zachary Abuza, author of
Militant Islam in Southeast Asia.
While US officials express concern, they are content for Thailand to handle its own
insurgency, saying its government is resolute in tackling radicalism.
A thornier issue is how to approach Indonesia as it sends mixed signals on
combating terrorism. President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who is facing a tough
reelection bid in July, has depicted the renewed fighting in Ambon as a clash over
separatism, rather than interfaith strife. Her advisers say she is wary of angering
Muslim politicians, particularly after her party's poor showing in recent elections.
But perhaps the biggest flash point in US-Indonesia relations is the fate of Islamic
cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, who was rearrested last month on terrorism charges
immediately after serving an 18-month sentence. US officials say Mr. Bashir is linked
to Al Qaeda and approved a string of bombings including the Bali attacks.
Muslim leaders have cast suspicion on the arrest, saying it is Washington's
handiwork. Hamdan Zulva, a member of a parliamentary commission, said that after
the US presented "less-than-believable" evidence as a pretext to invade Iraq, the
charges against Bashir could be "trumped up."
• Tom McCawley contributed to this report from Jakarta, Indonesia.
Copyright © 2004 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved.
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