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Terrorists regroup in southern
Thailand
By Eric Teo Chu Cheow
(Used by permission of Pacific Forum CSIS)
Southeast Asian terrorism is rearing its ugly
head again. Jemaah Islamiya (JI) is reorganizing itself,
after some 30 of its operatives were arrested in
Indonesia, 75 in Malaysia, and 30 in Singapore over the
past year. After the recent bomb blast at the Marriott
Hotel in central Jakarta, Indonesia and Southeast Asia
are bracing for more terrorist attacks along the lines
of the Bali attack last October, given the similarities
in style and modus operandi between the Bali and
Marriott bombs, and as the Bali and Abu Bakar Ba'asyir
trials continue in Indonesia.
In fact, after the
Bali bombing, Indonesia and its Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) neighbors undertook serious action
in containing indigenous and international terrorist
threats through tougher anti-terrorist enforcement and
better regional coordination. Terrorist threats then
calmed down considerably. Governmental vigilance and the
horrors of Bali also helped curb radical Muslim
movements in Indonesia and Malaysia. Moreover, these
governments vocally opposed the US-led intervention in
Iraq in order to "contain" both their moderate and
radical Muslim populations from spilling into the
streets. After a government offensive in Mindanao,
southern Philippines, a truce was called and both the
Manila authorities and Moro Islamic Liberation Front
(MILF) rebels accepted Malaysia as mediator in peace
talks, thus calming a regional foyer of Muslim dissent
and rebellion.
With the war in Iraq rapidly won
by Washington, fears are also emerging of revenge
terrorist strikes against the United States. In fact,
Washington had in May issued a warning of possible
terrorist attacks emanating from Sabah, Malaysia, and
the southern Philippines. Terrorist elements in these
areas are also reputed to have links to al-Qaeda, which
is believed to be reactivating operations worldwide,
especially after a call for a jihad (holy war) by Osama
bin Laden's right-hand man, Ayman al-Zawahiri, against
the US and its allies in May. Since then, two
devastating bombs have exploded in Casablanca and
Riyadh; in Southeast Asia, three Thai Muslims were
arrested in southern Thailand in early June, as well as
two Cambodian Muslims in late May, all suspected to be
JI-linked terrorists.
But a new development
has sprung up in Southeast Asian terrorism, just as
the latest attack in Jakarta could once again - as after
the Bali attacks - encourage moderate Muslims to spurn
radical political Islam and help "marginalize" terror
groups. (The latest congress of the Mujahideen Council
of Indonesia, or MMI, in Solo, central Java, was shunned
by many mainstream Islamic leaders.) Away from
mainstream Islamic developments in Indonesia, Malaysia
and the southern Philippines, a new foyer of Islamic
militancy and impetus may be emerging in southern
Thailand. Long denied for reasons of "protecting"
Thailand's tourism industry as well as incoming foreign
investments, southern (Muslim) Thailand's involvement in
arms trafficking, smuggling and terrorism was openly
admitted by Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra
during his working visit to Washington in June.
Southern Thailand could have been for some time
the "weak underbelly" of Southeast Asia's fight against
terrorism, thanks to its tranquil and remote nature, and
its purported distance from the mainstream of regional
Muslim activities. It could have become a discreet hub
of terrorist activities, logistics and occult financing,
involving the entire chain of terror activities from
drug smuggling and arms trafficking (to finance
terrorism) to the logistics and planning of bomb
attacks, especially when Malaysian, Indonesian,
Bruneian, Singaporean, and Philippine authorities had
closed in on their own nationals in their fight against
terrorism.
In fact, many Muslims escaped and
sought refuge in Thailand to begin planning bomb attacks
back home from there. For example, JI elements met twice
in southern Thailand to plan the Bali bomb blasts, and
possibly other bomb attacks in Indonesia. Thai Muslims
in southern Thailand could have been discreetly plugged
into the JI network, and are reportedly entertaining
close links to the MILF rebels and the more deadly Abu
Sayyaf terrorists in southern Philippines, notorious for
kidnappings, beheading of captives, ransom, and
extortion.
There are five reasons for southern
Thailand's involvement in terror activities.
First, the region is already known as the
underdog of the Thai economy, as development and growth
have not effectively reached and trickled down to this
predominantly Muslim region of almost 6 million Thais;
poverty and underdevelopment could help spawn terrorism.
Second, there is cause for concern as many young
Thai Muslims have been schooled in pendoks
(Muslim religious schools) in the past three decades and
embraced the more fiery brand of Wahhabism from Saudi
Arabia, thanks to generous Saudi funding for mosques and
schools. Some young Thai Muslims have presumably been
trained in military operations in Afghanistan under the
Taliban.
Third, this region has been engaged in
a subtle war of attrition and hit-and-run operations
against symbols of central authorities (police,
government officials and soldiers) for years. Some
southern Thais in these five Muslim provinces have tried
to secede from Buddhist Bangkok to create a Muslim state
to the north of Malaysia; in fact, the Pattani United
Liberation Front (PULO) was very active in this region
in the 1970s against Bangkok.
Fourth, Thaksin
has been fighting a relentless war against drugs in
Thailand; death threats have even been made against the
prime minister by drug kingpins. It is conceivable that
part of this drug trade and smuggling is linked to the
financing of terrorist activities, creating a
relationship between terrorists and drug groups
operating out of southern Thailand.
Finally,
there are sensitivities with neighboring Islamic
Malaysia, with whom Thailand has a sensitive border to
maintain, especially with the Malaysian states of
Kelantan and Kedah, where the fundamentalist opposition
Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) is clearly building up
Muslim strongholds. A joint Thai-Malaysian gas pipeline,
which is supposed to run through this crucial border
region, is mired in popular controversies. As a result,
the open pursuit of Muslim terrorists in southern
Thailand by the Buddhist government in Bangkok is
difficult, both in terms of domestic Thai politics and
Thai-Malaysian relations, as the June arrest of three
suspected Thai Muslim JI members made plain.
Nevertheless, alarmed by the resurgence of
terrorist threats in the region (including in southern
Thailand), and determined to take action ahead of the
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders'
Meeting in Bangkok in October, the Thaksin government
issued two executive decrees on August 11 to "toughen"
the 2003 Criminal Code (to facilitate the prosecution of
terrorist acts) and the Anti-Money Laundering Act amid
concerns from civil-society and human-rights groups.
Southern Thailand was once known for its
beautiful beaches and tolerance of a swinging Western
lifestyle at such famous places as Phuket, Krabi, and
Koh Samui, all well-known gems in Thailand's booming
tourist trade. Today, however, the focus is on southern
Thailand's role and links to terrorism.
Dr
Eric Teo Chu Cheow, a business consultant and
strategist based in Singapore, is also council secretary
of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs
(SIIA) and Resource Panel member of the Singapore
Parliamentary Committee on Defense and Foreign Affairs.
This article is used by permission of Pacific Forum CSIS.
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