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SINGAPORE: The threat of terrorism in Southeast Asia in the post-911 era has been on the decline, especially over the past five years, as governments built counter-terrorism forces and strengthened their intelligence services, a terrorism expert told TODAY.
Realising that terrorism is a serious threat to their societies and nations, the governments have taken the necessary measures, said Dr Rohan Gunaratna, who heads the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at Nanyang Technological University.
In contrast, extremism is on the rise worldwide because of the impact of propaganda put out by Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, whom Dr Gunaratna believes is still alive and active in the area between the Afghanistan and Pakistan borders.
In the past five months alone, Osama has released four audio and video statements aimed at radicalising ordinary Muslims to hate non-Muslims and the West.
But in Indonesia, the move to counter terrorism has borne fruit with the creation of the anti-terror unit Detachment 88, which has killed or captured more than 300 members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist group after the October 2002 Bali bombings.
In the Philippines, the armed forces and the police, with the assistance of the United States, have killed or captured "very important operatives" of JI and the violent separatist Abu Sayyaf group.
Dr Gunaratna singled out Singapore and Malaysia as countries that have effectively contained terrorism.
"The Singapore and Malaysian governments have moved beyond operational response to launching effective community engagement programmes to counter the threat of terrorism," he said, referring to the efforts of politicians, religious clerics and community leaders in working closely with the Muslim community.
Terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda, JI and Kumpulan Militan Malaysia are not Quranic groups and are misinterpreting and misrepresenting the great faith of Islam, said Dr Gunaratna.
"They are being led by power-hungry, cunning political leaders masquerading as men of religion such as Abu Bakar Bashir and Osama bin Laden," he said.
Abu Bakar, an elderly Indonesian cleric who was allegedly the spiritual leader of JI, was found guilty by Indonesian courts in 2003 of being part of an "evil conspiracy" to commit the 2002 Bali bombings, although all charges directly linking him to the attacks were dropped. He was released from Indonesian prison in June last year, after serving a 25-month sentence.
Osama is believed to be still alive and active in the mountainous Federally Administered Tribal Area (Fata), between the Afghanistan and Pakistan borders.
"Our centre's research and other sources of information indicate that Osama is not dead, but is operating out of Fata.
"Osama is there because for more than 25 years, the people of Fata have identified themselves with Afghanistan in fighting against foreign occupiers including the Soviet invasion from 1979 to 1989, and the US and coalition forces since 2001," said Dr Gunaratna.
His colleague, Mr Saifullah Khan Mahsud, an Afghan from Fata who is working as a research analyst with the centre, said that for a long while Osama was not in the spotlight, leading many to believe he was dead.
But he was all the while re-grouping Al Qaeda and had now re-emerged on the scene and poses a bigger threat.
Dr Gunaratna said the threat of terrorism in Singapore is "low to medium" now, compared to the "very significant level" between 2000 and 2002. "Even before 911, Al Qaeda and JI had planned to attack Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines, where there are Western interests," he said.
Singapore has taken the threat of terrorism very seriously and "no other government in Southeast Asia has invested so much in combating terrorism", said Dr Gunaratna.
There was, however, a crucial need for a coordinated international effort to fight Al Qaeda as it is "still a capable organisation".
"The approach should be to focus on building a bridge to the global Muslim community and working with them to fight extremism," he said.
- TODAY/so
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