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The Changing Face of Terrorism in Southeast Asia by Eric Teo Chu Cheow บทความส่วนหนึ่งที่เกี่ยวกับภาคใต้ของไทย เหตุผล 5 ประการ 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 Filipino 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 "underbelly" 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 last three decades and embraced the more fiery brand of Wahabism 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" (policemen, 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 or 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 party 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. บทความจาก 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 Defence and Foreign Affairs. Pacific Forum CSIS Honolulu, Hawaii Number 34 August 14, 2003 1001 Bishop Street, Pauahi Tower, Suite 1150, Honolulu, HI 96813 Tel: (808) 521-6745 Fax: (808) 599-8690 Email: pacforum@hawaii.rr.com Web Page: www.csis.org/pacfor |
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