TAN, AVEMAR T.

INTERNATIONAL STUDIES 209

2002-05695 24 MARCH 2010

REVIEW ESSAY: TERROR IN ASIA’S SOUTHEAST

§ Ressa, Maria. 2003. Seeds of Terror: An Eyewitness Account of Al-Qaeda’s

Newest Center of Operations in Southeast Asia. New York: Free Press.
§ Singh, Bilveer. 2007. The Talibanization of Southeast Asia: Losing the War on
Terror to Islamist Extremists. Westport Connecticut: Praeger Security
International.
§ Weinberg, Leonard. 2005. Global Terrorism: A Beginner’s Guide. Oxford: One
World Publications.

The semblance of formidability that the United States acquired after it came out
virtually unscathed from the horrors of the Second World War as “the” Superpower to contend
with was shattered in minutes as a series of planned attacks against targets within the US
Mainland were launched in 11 September 2001. The resurgence in the number of studies,
books and articles on terrorism, Jihadism, Islam, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that followed
such us the volumes penned by Leonard Weinberg, Maria Ressa and Bilveer Singh, as well as
the increased interest of readers, policymakers, state leaders and academics alike on these
subjects demonstrate the profoundness of its effect.

These recent events have also thrust Southeast Asia into the limelight as Osama Bin
Laden’s Al Qaeda group, the suspected mastermind behind the 9/11 Attacks was alleged to
have strong connections with other Muslim organizations operating in the region.

Despite being written by authors of diverse backgrounds, with Weinberg being an

American-born academic, Singh a professor of Political Science from Singapore and Ressa a
Filipino-born, American-schooled investigative journalist, a careful examination of these texts
would uncover a unifying thread which ties together these individual stories. At the core of
these three volumes is the hypothesis that Islamic fundamentalist motivated terrorism and its
manifestation during 9/11 is not a singular event perpetrated by a homogenous Islamic group.

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Instead, as what Weinberg would show, this “group” is composed of individuals of various
nationalities, diverse backgrounds and social status who have been banded together by the
same tone of radical Islam that influenced Osama Bin Laden in his youth. In addition, these
three notable volumes are similar in their attempts and allusions to the existence of links
between the Al Qaeda and the radical Islamic groups in Southeast Asia.

For instance, Leonard Weinberg attempts to establish this “connection” by focusing

attention to the discussion of the Al Qaeda and the “new wave” of terrorism. Highlighting this
recent wave’s religious character, Weinberg makes the seamless transition from discussing
generalities and basic facts to the more mainstream idea of Islamic-fundamentalist-motivated
terrorism perpetrated in the name of Jihad. At the center of this he claims, is the
fundamentalist ideology espoused by groups which he characterized as reactive, selective when
it came to reading religious texts and viewed violence as a logical response to achieving their
goals.

Weinberg’s narration would go on to highlight this radicalized religious connection,

discussing the influences of Wahhabism, Qutbism, Suffism and of thinkers such as Mau’dudi
had on the religious development of Bin Laden. The author traces the roots of jihadist
organizations specifically the Sunni Muslim organizations engaged in terrorist activity to the
Iranian Revolution and the first modern jihad waged against communist rule in Afghanistan that
created a common cause and united Sunni Muslims, to say the least. Singh and Ressa also
allude to these two historical events as contributing to the formation and solidification of
fundamentalist Muslim groups with a considerable mass base they however do not specify to
which branch of Islam these terrorist groups adhere to. Instead, Singh, and to some extent
Ressa, would link Islamic terrorist organizations to more radical interpretations of Islam namely
Wahhabism and later, the teachings of Syed Qutb and Syed Abdul Ala Mau’dudi who are also
mentioned in Weinberg’s book as strong influences behind the radicalization of Osama Bin
Laden and other Muslim thinkers.

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 Weinberg also notes that these so-called radical interpretations of Islam were
propagated during the time of the Afghan war when Bin Laden took it upon himself to recruit
and train young Muslim men from around the globe to aid in the defense of the Islamic
population in Afghanistan against invading Communists. Weinberg attributes to this event, the
cultivation of a strong and deep bond that eventually brought together Muslim groups from
different regions. Ressa and Singh would support this idea in part, as they note in their
respective works, that to begin with, the conflicts and issues confronting certain Muslim groups
around the world were essentially national in character and would involve disputes on issues
such as landownership, resources or governance. What had turned their local problems into
worldwide battle cries were the radical interpretations of Islam they imbibed during their stay
in Afghanistan.

In this way, by presenting the wider context to which Southeast Asian radical Islamic
groups maybe linked and by virtue of acknowledgement of Al Qaeda’s substantial presence in
Southeast Asia, Weinberg contributes and supports the hypothesis that the two are inextricably
connected.

Although Singh appears to share the same central thrust as Weinberg as evidenced by
the considerable attention he gave to the radicalization process Islamic groups underwent, he
would go on to introduce a new concept—Talibanization, as the sociopolitical phenomenon
that according to him, banded these groups together. Singh defines Talibanization as the
“growing propensity to adopt extremist religious ideological interpretations and practices in
Muslim societies…” Unlike Weinberg however, Singh supports his case by choosing to focus
more on the Southeast Asian counterpart of Al Qaeda. Singh goes on to devote an entire
chapter to describing the rise of the Al-Jama’ah Al Islamiyyah and its development as an
organization. Through the citation of a number of sources, Singh debunks the popular myth
that the group is a figment of the US’ imagination, conceived in order to penetrate the regions
with the real intention of tapping into its resources and its links to the oil-rich Islamic states of
West Asia.

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 Demonstrating his skills in research, Singh goes on to provide details of the region’s
widespread experience with Islamist radicalism highlighting in particular the national nature of
the phenomena, which, until discovery of the Al-Jama’ah Al Islamiyyah (AJAI), had been
confined within states and have been attributed mostly to the dissatisfaction among certain
Islamic groups mobilizing within the state. Often, these groups were linked with secessionist
goals spawned by the perception that the existing structure does not put their interests into
consideration.

From this national character, Singh traces how the terrorist threat in the region merged
and wove through the broader and international character of the US war on terror noting the
links local groups have had with the Taliban which was eventually pinpointed as the
masterminds behind the 9/11 Attacks.

Through his successful tracing of the actions of a number of Islamic leaders such as Abu
Bakar Ba’asyir, he arrives at the conclusion that the AJAI is the offshoot of a pro-“Dar al-Islam”
Islamist community that had migrated to Malaysia where, due to a number of factors such as
repression from Suharto, it had been radicalized. Interestingly, the character Abu Bakar Ba’asyir
appears in both Singh and Ressa’s accounts, which highlight Ressa’s attempt to physically
establish the links between the Al Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden, Jemaah Islamiyah, Abu Bakar
Ba’asyir, Abu Sayyaf and local Filipino “terrorist” leaders. Ba’asyir is however absent from the
roster of characters which grazed Weinberg’s work.

In much the same way, Maria Ressa further brings to light the role of Southeast Asia in
the Global War on Terror by physically establishing the links between Osama bin Laden and the
groups operating in the region. The fact that Maria Ressa’s treatment of the subject matter was
entirely in the first person and was based largely on an “eyewitness” account tended to lend an
air of credibility to her work on the one side since it is purportedly based upon the author’s own
experiences and findings and of deceitfulness on the other as the news organization Ressa is

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part of has been characterized by some as reflecting slanted views against non-Western states
and have often been accused of spreading Western propaganda.

In her book, Ressa tells the story of an assortment of videotapes taken from one of
Osama bin Laden’s hideouts which contained, among others, motivational propaganda and
instructional material that not only incited and encouraged its viewers to join the global jihad
but also taught new recruits on urban guerilla warfare, chemical weapons, building bombs and
other terrorist tactics.

Using these tapes as her take off point, Ressa begins to weave the tale of Islamic
terrorism in the Philippines, which has been sufficiently acknowledged only recently. She
narrates how the botched assassination plot against Pope John Paul II in 1995 figured into a
bigger global agenda to undermine the perceived enemies of Islam. Through skilled
investigation and reporting, Ressa is able to secure information on how foreign terrorists are
able to enter legitimately into the country under the guise of business transactions or leisurely
travel to blend in, establish networks, connections, build groups and more importantly raise
funds to support and co-opt existing Islamic rebel-groups in the conflict ridden Southern
Mindanao.

Factual evidence of the existence of terrorist facilities and training camps in Southern
Mindanao namely Camp Abubakar, Camp Palestine and Camp Hodeibia which was allegedly set
up for the exclusive use of Jemaah Islamiyah operatives were also exposed and documented in
the volume. Surprisingly, based on the information given to Ressa by an “official” whose
affiliation, gender, race have not been divulged, these camps have been set up in as early as
1994, long before Islamic terrorism, al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah became mainstream topics
of discussion.

Ressa would choose to highlight the physical connections the Philippines and Southeast
Asia for that matter, had with Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda. These physical connections

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were not just the people involved who were reported to have been moving in and out freely
across the regions borders but also the record of funding provided by the latter to the groups
operating in the region.

One of the stories further developed by Ressa pertained to the funding source of the
group operating within the Philippines. At or about 1988, Ressa and a number of other sources
would allege, Osama Bin Laden’s brother-in-law, Mohammed Jamal Khalifa would enter the
Philippines, intermarry with the locals and integrate into Philippine society, setting up charities
and other organizations that were meant to collect funds that would later be siphoned-off to
support terrorism in Southern Mindanao.

In 1994, according to Ressa, a certain Colonel Rodolfo Mendoza documented the

infiltration of local Islamic groups by international terrorists in a 175-page report that detailed,
among others, increases in the number of madrassas and Mosques. While Ressa concludes that
these statistics are alarming the reader may not quite agree with her at once considering
especially that an increase in the number of madrassas and Mosques need not be an indicator
of “infiltration” of international terrorists since consequently, limiting their growth may be
viewed as prejudicial to the democratic existence of the religion. It is to the reader’s
disadvantage that a copy of the said report remains unavailable for public consumption and is
not included as an annex to Ressa’s volume.

Ressa also details of the characteristics of Islam in the region as more moderate and
adaptable compared to its versions in West and South Asia. Radicalism was however able to
find its way into the region in the midst of both the economic success of the oil-producing
Muslim countries of West Asia and in the midst of crisis namely the first modern jihad against
communist Russia in 1989. According to Ressa, a statement likewise supported by Singh and
Weinberg’s accounts, the increase in the price of oil which flooded Saudi Arabia with
petrodollars enabling them to invest in the creation of religious schools in Southeast Asia that
were to teach radical interpretations of Islam.

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 The three volumes offer complementing information particularly into the history of
what has been perceived as a homogenous radical Islamic terrorist movement with Weinberg
providing a general view that highlights events in West Asia and the notable incidents in the life
of Osama Bin Laden while Singh focused more on the development and emergence of the
regional group Jemaah Islamiyah. It is Ressa’s book, which provides the most comprehensive
albeit non-academically sounding account which eventually tie the loose ends in the stories left
by Weinberg and Singh. This triangulation of data and stories strengthens the overall
plausibility of each of the works had they been treated and read independently of each other.

In the end, all three successfully brought forth evidence which sought to prove: first, the
existence of radical Islamic motivated groups engaged in terrorist acts; second, that these
groups are far from homogenous and have varied histories and motivations; and third, that the
West Asia-based Al Qaeda created by Osama bin Laden, has established religious, socio-political
and physical links with the groups operating in the Southeast Asian region. All of which justify
the increasingly central role the region plays in the discussion of the problem of radical Islamic-
motivated terrorism and gives credence to the widely held notions but hitherto largely
unsupported claims that Southeast Asia is a hot-bed for Islamic terrorist groups.

These volumes also support the general idea that although Southeast Asia is prone to
Islamic oriented terrorism and is a crucial component in the so-called “international terrorism
network,” radical Islamism is not endemic to the region and neither is Islamic-motivated
terrorism. These are two points which have often been ignored in the current mainstream
terrorism literature which have tended to overly emphasize the fact that links are indeed
present. Instead, Weinberg, Ressa and Singh’s discussions would show that Southeast Asian
groups were merely co-opted into the terrorist movement through exposure to radical religious
interpretations of the Koran as Weinberg would state, the trend of Talibanization as Singh
would argue and the attempts of al Qaeda to physically establish roots in the region through
the laying down of training camps and funding outfits as Ressa claims in her book.

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