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In recent years, a steady stream of reportage and commentary has spotlighted a dangerous "Islamist threat" in Southeast Asia. This study, by contrast, offers a very different account. In descriptive terms, this study suggests that such an alarmist picture is highly overdrawn, and it traces instead a pattern of marked decline, demobilization, and disentanglement from state power in recent years for Islamist forces in Southeast Asia. This trend is evident both in the disappointments experienced in recent years by previously ascendant Islamist forces in Indonesia and Malaysia, and in the diminished position of Muslim power brokers in southern Thailand and the Philippines after more than a decade of cooperation with non-Muslim politicians in Manila and Bangkok. In explanatory terms, moreover, this study shows the significance of social and political context. A fuller appreciation of aggression by anti-Islamists and non-Muslims, and of the insecurity, weakness, and fractiousness of Islamist forces themselves, helps to explain the nature, extent, and limitations of Islamist violence, aggression, and assertiveness. This overarching alternative framework not only provides a very different explanation for the "Islamist threat" in Southeast Asia, but also suggests very different policy implications from those offered by specialists on terrorism working on the region.
Contents: (1) The Rise of Islamist Militancy in Southeast Asia: Overview; The Rise of Al Qaeda in Southeast Asia; (2) The Jemaah Islamiya (JI) Network: History of JI; JI¿s Relationship to Al Qaeda; JI¿s Size and Structure; (3) Indonesia: Recent Events; The Bali Bombings and Other JI attacks in Indonesia; The Trial and Release of Baasyir; (4) The Philippines: Abu Sayyaf; The MILF; The Philippine Communist Party; (5) Thailand: Southern Insurgency; Current Government¿s Approach; Little Evidence of Transnational Elements; (6) Malaysia: Recent Events; A Muslim Voice of Moderation; Maritime Concerns; Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism in Malaysia; Terrorist Groups in Malaysia; Malaysia¿s Counter-Terrorism Efforts; (7) Singapore: U.S.-Singapore Coop.
Long before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, awakened the United States and the Western world to the heightened level of the terrorist threat, Southeast Asia had been dealing with this threat. The bombing in Bali that killed 202 people, many of them Australian tourists, was by no means the region's first experience with Islamic extremism, which can be traced back to the 1940s, and the Darul Islam struggle. The most recent group to emerge is Al-Jama'ah Al-Islamiyah (AJAI), the most potent Islamic terrorist organization to date in the region and the group behind the Bali bombing. Understanding the process of Talibanization in Southeast Asia, which was once an oasis of moderate Islam in the modern world, is a key to unraveling the mystery of the increased radicalization in the region. Essentially, this involved the establishment of a political system that was more Islamic in character, either nationally or within a specific territory of a national state. This book analyzes the increasing Talibanization of Southeast Asia, a relatively new phenomenon that involves the adoption of Islamist doctrines, ideologies, and values that are largely militant in character, and that for some groups includes the adoption of violence to achieve their goals. This has succeeded in posing one of the most serious security challenges to the region since the end of the Cold War. Jihadists are operating in small and localized cells even though the broad goals remain the same, namely, to spread sharia, establish an Islamic state, and bring down secular regimes. As most governments do not have the credibility or the expertise to diminish the threat posed by Islamist extremism, Wahhabism, and Salafism, Southeast Asia is in danger of being Talibanized in the near future.
Zachary Abuza has traveled to most of the hot spots of Islamic militancy in Southeast Asia. Drawing on this intensive on-the-ground investigation, he explains the growing--and increasingly violent--Islamic political consciousness in Southeast Asia.
In recent years, a steady stream of reportage and commentary has spotlighted a dangerous "Islamist threat" in Southeast Asia. This study, by contrast, offers a very different account. In descriptive terms, this study suggests that such an alarmist picture is highly overdrawn, and it traces instead a pattern of marked decline, demobilization, and disentanglement from state power in recent years for Islamist forces in Southeast Asia. This trend is evident both in the disappointments experienced in recent years by previously ascendant Islamist forces in Indonesia and Malaysia, and in the diminished position of Muslim power brokers in southern Thailand and the Philippines after more than a decade of cooperation with non-Muslim politicians in Manila and Bangkok. In explanatory terms, moreover, this study shows the significance of social and political context. A fuller appreciation of aggression by anti-Islamists and non-Muslims, and of the insecurity, weakness, and fractiousness of Islamist forces themselves, helps to explain the nature, extent, and limitations of Islamist violence, aggression, and assertiveness. This overarching alternative framework not only provides a very different explanation for the "Islamist threat" in Southeast Asia, but also suggests very different policy implications from those offered by specialists on terrorism working on the region.
This book critically analyses the specific threat of terrorism in Southeast Asia since the Bali blasts of 12 October 2002 and the US-led war on Iraq. It offers a comprehensive and critical examination of the ideological, socioeconomic and political motivations, trans-regional linkages, and media representations of the terrorist threat in the region, assesses the efficacy of the regional counter-terror response and suggests a more balanced and nuanced approach to combating the terror threat in Southeast Asia. The contributors include leading scholars of political Islam in the region, renowned terrorism and regional security analysts, as well as highly regarded regional journalists and commentators. This represents a formidable and unequalled combination of expertise.
The fall of President Soeharto in May 1998 and the introduction of multi-party democracy by President BJ Habibie have unleashed religious parties (both Islamic and Christian) in Indonesian politics. This study shows that the Islamist agenda of the Islamist parties is overshadowed by their political pragmatism. This book is a must-read account on the rise and failure of the Islamist struggle in Indonesia's emerging democracy. Platzdasch's work is without a doubt a significant and timely contribution to a better understanding of Islamic politics in contemporary Indonesia. - Professor Azyumardi Azra, Professor of History & Director, Graduate School, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, Jakarta, Indonesia.
Most scholarly works conducted within the period of post-New Order Indonesia have underlined the fact that Indonesian Islamists reject the notion of democracy; no adequate explanation nonetheless has been attempted thus far as to how and to what extent democracy is being rejected. This book is dedicated to filling the gap by examining the complex reality behind the Islamists' rejection of democracy. It focuses its analysis on two streams of Islamism: the two Islamist groups that seek "extra-parliamentary" means to achieve their goals, that is, MMI and HTI, and the PKS Islamists who choose the existing political party system as a means of their power struggle. As this book has demonstrated, there are times when the two streams of Islamism share a common platform of understanding and interpretation as well as an intersection where they are in conflict with one another. The interplay between contested meanings over particular theological matters on normative grounds and power contests among the Islamists proves to be critical in shaping this complexity.
This compendium of information on terrorist groups, violent international criminal gangs, and other extremist groups that have been or are currently operating is intended for use as a reference guide and research tool for academics, students, government officials, security personnel, military personnel, law enforcement personnel, and the public. The publication also lists and describes political organizations and religious or ethnic factions that espouse violence or display the threat of violence in their philosophical or operational standards. The information was collected from a broad range of sources, including interviews with, law enforcement and military practitioners, researchers and academics, and and government officials. The organizations are listed geographically by continent and country. The listing for each organization covers its stated aims, ideology, or policy; areas of operation, numbers of active members, numbers of supporters, structure, headquarters, leaders' names, funding sources, types of activities, publications, network contacts, significant actions and activities, and trends.
The emergence of the Islamic State (IS) movement in Indonesia in 2014 re-energized violent extremism in Indonesia. As a result of effective counterterrorism policing, however, IS networks have been decimated and the structure of jihadism in Indonesia has shifted from organizations to autonomous networks and cells, increasingly organized via the Internet. Although support for violent extremism in Indonesia remains marginal, cells of IS followers maintain a low-level capacity to conduct lethal attacks against civilian and government targets. Most IS operations in Indonesia are sporadic and low-level attacks against the Indonesian police. Religious minorities have also been high-profile targets, as in the Surabaya church suicide bombings of 13 May 2018. There are some indications, however, of militants' renewed interest in attacking foreign targets, such as tourists on the resort island of Bali.