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| Southeast Asia |
| Editorial on situation in southern Thailand and SE Asia |
| 2005-09-05 |
| The murderous, 20-month-old violence in the South must be ended as quickly as possible. The so-called insurgency has claimed hundreds of lives. Last week, it escalated once again as the Islamist gangs mounted simultaneous violence in 10 districts of Narathiwat and Pattani provinces. These murders, arson and bombings, accompanied by racist and religious incitements, threaten both law and order, and long-term prospects of peace in the South. Events in neighbouring countries provide even more urgency to defeating the insurgents and establishing peace in the southern provinces. The pattern of terrorist attacks in the Philippines began again. Every six months, the violent gangs in the southern Philippines launch a fresh round of violence, mostly bombings. Last week, a bomb hidden in a box of clothes on a passenger ferry exploded at the wharf in southern Basilan. The blast wounded 30 people, burning most victims, and authorities agreed it probably was the work of the Abu Sayyaf, a gang that has misused religion in a bloody campaign against southern Catholics, peaceful Muslims and government forces for more than a decade. Philippine troops currently have an offensive against Abu Sayyaf, and are attempting to capture its leader Khadaffy Janjalani. The Abu Sayyaf and related gangs in the southern Philippines are aligned and receiving aid from the regional terrorist organisation Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). Philippine authorities warned last week after the ferry explosion that terrorists with help from JI were planning a bomb attack in Manila. In Jakarta, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told newspaper editors JI is planning a big terrorist attack in Indonesia, probably in the capital in the next two months. Australian officials had already restated warnings against travel to Indonesia. On the other side of Thailand, Bangladesh is still coming to grips with the shock of a coordinated series of more than 500 bombings. They killed two people and wounded more than 100, but the small bombs were obviously intended as intimidation. The opposition Awami League organised major protests after the bombings. They charged Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and her ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party had contributed to the violence and threats by allying itself with the extremist Jamat-E-Islami. This is a controversial group which some say has ties to the even more dangerous, banned Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, led by the violent fugitive ''Bangla Bhai''. Democratic and tolerant Bangladesh has been heavily infiltrated by gangs favouring violence. Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, as well as other gangs, openly brag of foreign connections to JI and to al-Qaeda of Osama bin Laden. Abu Sayyaf was established and financed by bin Laden's relatives, and its members helped terrorists responsible for attacks in the Mideast, Southeast Asia and the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York. State-centred terrorism also is flourishing. The United Nations last week reported they have narrowed the suspects in the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri to four generals known chiefly for their loyalty to Syria. Damascus is lately also suspected of helping foreign extremists loyal to bin Laden to travel to Iraq. Iranian extremists with ties to the new government have sponsored recruiting drives for suicide bombers. In the Philippines, insurgents have made informal pacts with local governments, and in Bangladesh the opposition charges that extremists have infiltrated the government. In both areas, as in Thailand's South, the insurgents and extremists have no mandate to represent local people. Indeed, all evidence indicates that southern Thais and Filipinos, and the people of Bangladesh, do not support either the separatist goals of the insurgents or the violent means being employed. Southeast Asia, including Thailand, is a target of international terrorism. JI aims to establish a regional ''caliphate'' of Muslim rule from the Southern Philippines to the Burma-Bangladesh border. Indonesia and the Philippines are active, terrorist battlefields. Malaysia and Singapore authorities say they are threatened by extremist political actions, and have come under terrorist threat. Southern Thailand is an objective of such groups, and it is vital to end the insurgency in order to end the international terrorist threat to the South. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #1 Ima hoping the Thais lose their tolerance really soon |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-09-05 14:59 |