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2006-03-14 Southeast Asia

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Posted by Dan Darling 2006-03-14 01:16|| || Front Page|| [1 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Article: Southern Thailand is still a theater of local jihad, said Rohan Gunaratna, a terrorism expert at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies in Singapore. It has still not graduated into the global jihad stage, but certainly we are seeing some indications of interest on the part of Middle Eastern groups and Indonesian groups to take it to a regional and a global level. Bangkok should seriously consider opening channels of communication with militant groups involved in the violence if it wants to prevent foreign infiltration of the conflict, Gunaratna said. I think it is critical to act now because every day we are seeing that the groups are becoming more religious. They are losing their national character slowly but steadily, he said. They are still not radicalized to a high extent and are still open to negotiations.

You mean like Singapore opened up negotiations with the far more dangerous (and numerous) Communist Party of Malaya? Never happened. Singapore hanged terrorists convicted of murder, tortured members for information and jailed them indefinitely. Some of them are still in jail after four decades of detention without trial.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2006-03-14 03:50|| http://timurileng.blogspot.com]">[http://timurileng.blogspot.com] 2006-03-14 03:50|| Front Page Top

#2 "Thailand should consider entering into talks with militants behind the southern insurgency if it wants to avoid the separatist struggle being hijacked by international Jihadists."

Contrary to the assertion here, local Islamic militants have already been hijacked by international Jihadists. (by, among others, the Malaysian Kampulan Mujahedin (KMM).) But for the sake of discussion, assume their demands are completely of a regional concern, does logic dictate that capitulation with these thugs would eliminate the threat of infiltration from the Islamists with global aspirations? IMOnot a chance. Just a theory here, but I think these so-called analysts have an agenda other then thwarting international terrorism.

Posted by DepotGuy 2006-03-14 10:44|| 2006-03-14 10:44|| Front Page Top

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