Posted on 11/06/2001 1:16:22 AM PST by ATOMIC_PUNK
Fanatics just over the water
Bin Laden's call to arms comes amid signs of growing Islamic militancy throughout the region to Australia's north. The danger is reflected in the way that fundamentalism is steadily gaining ground and generating pockets of extremism in Malaysia, a country that has been seen as a model of religious moderation and multiculturalism. The radical elements emerging in Malaysia are linking up with similarly minded Muslims in Indonesia and The Philippines.
The bin Laden-linked Malaysian terrorist group is the Kumpulan Mujahideen Malaysia (Islamic Warriors Group of Malaysia), some of whose adherents are also members of the fundamentalist Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS), the largest opposition party in Malaysia. PAS is allied with the National Justice Party (Keadilan), where a split has emerged between moderate officials and a hardline faction favouring the use of mosques to rally popular support for a street struggle to overthrow the government.
Keadilan was formed by supporters of Anwar Ibrahim, the jailed former deputy prime minister, and is headed by his wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. The leader of the militant faction, Mohamad Ezam Mohamad Nor, who was Anwar's political secretary, was arrested earlier this year under the Internal Security Act. Ezam is being accorded the same martyr status as Anwar, who is the hero of young Malays studying in religious schools, where the teachers preach hatred of the Government and attack Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad as an infidel.
Anwar was an Islamic radical as a student. Known as Pak Sheik, he attracted a devoted band of followers who saw him as the standard-bearer for Malay nationalism and Islamic fundamentalism. Within days of his sacking in 1998, Anwar reverted to the radicalism and street politics of his student days. Although he formerly championed the "middle path" for South-East Asian Muslims, today he has allied himself with PAS, which wants to introduce the hudud laws, with their harsh medieval punishments, and create an orthodox Islamic state.
PAS, the religious schools and the mosques, where the ulama praise Anwar and condemn Mahathir, are breeding grounds for young Malays eager to fight for the Taliban and bin Laden.
The existence of KMM came to light as a result of a botched bank robbery in Kuala Lumpur. Police linked the group to the unsolved murder of a Christian politician and the bombing of a church and a Hindu temple. In August, another 10 alleged KMM members were arrested, including Nik Adli Nik Aziz, a former religious teacher and son of PAS's spiritual adviser Nik Aziz Nik Mat. Nik Aziz, the Chief Minister of PAS-controlled Kelantan State, described the September11 attacks on the US as the "will of Allah" and urged Muslims to help and support Afghanistan in its fight against the US.
The Government accused Nik Adli of seeking to "topple the Government through an armed struggle and replace it with a pure Islamic state comprising Indonesia, Mindanao and Malaysia". Nik Adli denied the charges and his father accused the Government of seeking to destroy PAS.
While the Government has undoubtedly made political capital out of the KMM, analysts do not doubt the group's existence or that it has links with extremists in Indonesia.
Jafar Umar Talib, an Indonesian religious leader with Afghanistan ties, told Indonesia's Tempo magazine that KMM was part of the Osama network in the region. He said the KMM had a connection with a group called Laskar Mujahideen, which was active in fighting Christians in north Maluku. The Indonesian link was further confirmed by the arrest of a Malaysian KMM member in Jakarta on August 1, when a bomb he was carrying went off prematurely outside a shopping mall.
The war on terrorism, depicted by bin Laden as a war on Islam, is accelerating the shift away from Islamic moderation in Malaysia and providing new incentives for radical elements in Indonesia and The Philippines. Australia has reason to be concerned that supporters of bin Laden in Malaysia, Indonesia and The Philippines will jointly launch a regional holy war aimed at creating a South-East Asian Islamic state.
Ian Stewart, a former East Asian correspondent for Reuters, The Australian and The New York Times, is writing a book on Malaysia (forthcoming, Allen & Unwin)
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