The Threat of Terrorism in Southeast Asia
The threat of global terrorism has become decentralized, unpredicted, tough with its regenerative abilities and difficult to detect in the recent years. The jihadist movements primarily the Islamic State (IS) and Al-Qaeda have exploited the indigenous grievances and recruited the ambitious jihadists who fight for local and international causes. Both of them have become terror networks, which remain underground thus being able to sustain themselves for longer periods of time and commit severe violent attacks (Goldsmith, 2014).
The threat of terrorism in Southeast has reached new heights in the year 2017. The region has witnessed a daring attempt by the groups associated with Islamic State (IS) to take over a city comprising of over 200,000 people. In the month of May 2017, the terrorists of IS captured control over some parts of the city of Marawi situated in Mindanao, Philippines and managed it for over 5 months. In this battle, more than 1170 people were killed which also included 960 terrorists.
The terrorists associated with IS also attacked Indonesia which comprised of throwing bombs in Bandung in the month of February, shooting in Tuban in the month of April and two suicide bombings in the city of Jakarta killing over two people and injuring almost 10 others in the month of May. So this essay explains the security concerns of Indonesia, a member state of ASEAN along with describing why terrorism and political violence has created an impact on its security in the recent years.
In the year 2018, there are three trends, which define the threat of terrorism and political violence in the landscape of Indonesia. The Islamic State has been converting itself from a Khalifa building institution to an international terrorist movement. For compensating its territorial losses and battlefields, it has reinvented itself and seeking to expand itself internationally in cyber and physical space management.
They consider Indonesia as an alternative jihadi ground as it appears to be more accessible to them as compared to other countries in the same region. Its ungoverned areas with permeable boundaries along with well associated clandestine channels is appropriate for the recruitment of jihadis and human trafficking routes. They are often administered by the local affiliates of IS and thus have facilitated the illegal trips of Uyghurs throughout the country ( Pempel, 2010).
In this regard, a new area of concern has emerged in Indonesia. It is the fourth most populated country and the largest with the majority of Muslims. It has evolved into a democracy that is based on tolerance and moderate interpretation of Islam. It has emerged as one of the fastest developing economies of Asia. It has suffered from the violence of terrorists due to actions of the deliberate government and the current social, economic and political factors (Tan, 2012).
Trends Defining the Threat of Terrorism and Political Violence in Indonesia
The other factors highlight the development of Islam Nusantara i.e. Islam of the Archipelago and the secular ideas such as Pancasila which acted as a bulwark against terrorism and radicalization. However, despite the evolution of counterterrorism strategies and the presence of well-developed local administration, the government of Indonesia has faced many problems and vulnerabilities regarding terrorism (Cook, 2016).
The stakeholders like local administration and socio religious institutions such as Muhammadiyah and NU can be influenced by radical ideologies. The local politicians often seek to avoid conflicts and are more interested in gathering their votes have encouraged the radical threatening and protest. Additionally, despite the attempts to develop counteracts such as Islam Nusantara, terrorism has continued to be the most disruptive voices comprising of religious and social norms.
Their evolving presence and impact on the public disclosures have insisted many leaders adapt themselves to the conservative ideologies because otherwise, they would lose their followers and public support. Both of them have experienced declining membership and authority thereby creating a pressure for expansion of their demand and significance. Therefore, both of them have followed the conservative positions on the religious and social issues whilst promoting their conservative members (Liu & Woodward, 2013).
Corruption and dissimilarities in the opinions pertaining to social and religious issues have posed threat to the effective declaration of counteracts and anti-radical speeches specifically in the conservative and rural areas of Indonesia. These areas are noted to be the historical refuge of the terrorists. The security forces of Indonesia and the legal infrastructure facilitating the counterterrorism operations are also confronted with an uncertain and risky future (Caruso, 2018).
The government of Indonesia has failed to address the law enforcing problems and its efforts in becoming an efficient force. Moreover, the spate of terrorist attacks in Indonesia during the past few weeks has stated how the members of Islamic State are responding to the defeat of the group in the Middle East (Jones, 2018).
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) has occupied the areas of Indonesia which were once dominated by JI and al-Qaeda members. Its online strategy is a tool for recruitment as about 70% of the social media sites associated with ISIS in Southeast Asia have been originated from Indonesia. Over a time span of two years almost 600 Indonesians have traveled to the territories held by ISIS in the Middle East. Also, it has been researched that Indonesia is not effective in preventing the attacks of the terrorists (John, 2016).
Factors that Cause Terrorism
The most important factor that causes terrorism and political violence is poverty. Although Indonesia is a progressive economy, most of the people living in rural areas are deprived of resources and opportunities. It creates resentment and causes some of them to adopt terrorism so that they can express their outrage. It comprises of various factors such as social inequality, low literacy rate and low GDP. The other factors are population, inflation and unemployment rates (Lampton, 2015).
The other dependent factors on poverty are the gap between poverty and size of the population that is homeless. In Indonesia, many so cities are full of possibilities but still there are many citizens who are jobless which the main cause of the standard of living is. It is well observed and understood that with the development of social inequality, aggression persists as they are unable to achieve what others are capable of achieving easily. It thus creates internal conflict within the geographical areas thereby making it more likable for terrorism to evolve (Tan, 2012).
Many of the factors are used to represent poverty like the levels of education and social inequality. Another reason can be the emergence of natural disasters, which give a chance for the breeding of terrorism. It is a well-established fact that natural disasters create hardships and strain in the society. They weaken the government and the resources of the area. It paves the way for terrorists to operate and move freely within Indonesia.
It can further encourage the activities of terrorism, as the government is unable to mitigate it due to its resources being utilized elsewhere. Economic sanctions also enhance the chances of terrorism. When the economic sanctions are implemented on a nation, then its economic conditions begin to deteriorate drastically. SO those who are already poor are forced to worsen their conditions. Those who are already in worse conditions find out methods for their survival. It is when the terrorists succeed in recruiting those poor people (Jones, 2014).
Often these terrorists are those people who are looking for the opportunity to rebel against the government, as they believe that it is the one who has let them down leading to poverty. It is also been observed that a lack of economic opportunities is also strongly associated with terrorist activities. Additionally, when the people of a certain area are dissatisfied with their state of living, they are more likable to adopt extreme measures or persuaded to act so. So, the economic factors are strong indicators of terrorism (Huxley & Schreer, 2017).
Vulnerabilities of the Indonesian Government and Stakeholders
Another reason for explaining why terrorism or political violence has affected the security of Indonesia in the recent era is political factors. Government repression such as civil liberties and political rights lead to terrorism. Societies that are unstable and undemocratic form weak governments thereby causing people to suffer. The abuses of human rights are also involved in this category. It is believed that they are the direct consequences of the action of the government.
The violations of human rights comprising of humiliation and dispossession lead to resentment amongst the people for the government. Terrorism is strongly associated with social injustice caused by the government. When the government is incapable of providing the basic standard of living, the citizen becomes dissatisfied and it provides a chance to the terrorist organizations to recruit those people (Zora, 2015).
It is further believed that in Indonesia, the transition period from dictatorship to democracy experience more incidences of terrorism. It shows that those situations and governments who are stuck in the middle are posed to more terrorist attacks. The government who is in the midst of the transition is not able to give its citizens the appropriate freedom thereby causing the lack in the other areas as well.
Repression also emerges in the most violent forms in Indonesia. One of the main causes of terrorism is racism and massive violation of human rights. When a country has less respect for human rights, it causes the citizens to be aggrieved for those who are responsible for it. For correcting the mistakes of the government, its people may turn to be terrorists. The organizations who support terrorism can facilitate their members with rescores which are essential to fight against the mistakes of the government. Thus, the repression of the government contributes to the occurrence of terrorism.
There are many social factors as well which contribute to the emergence of terrorism and political violence. There is a strong correlation between human development and terrorism. Religion is another social aspect that is to be considered. The terrorism has observed an enormous increase in religious extremism with the expansion in the intensity of violence and its global reach (Haggard & Noland, 2009).
In this regard, the religious terrorism can be explained as political violence which is provoked by an absolute conviction that another worldly power has been sanctioned or commanded. The terrorist violence is believed to be the greatest glory of faith. People who are involved in religious terrorism consider that their acts would be forgiven and rewarded in their afterlife.
The Impact of Poverty on Terrorism
In Indonesia, the prominent form of religious terrorism is Islamic extremism. There has been a drastic change in the religious terrorism making it a dominant contributor to the global terrorism. So, there is a positive correlation between unemployment, social inequalities, low respect for human rights and terrorism. Also, the predominating religion of a nation has affected the number of terrorist incidences occurring in the nation (Yahuda, 2011).
The jihadist movement has posed the sustained threat to the region. The propaganda of Islamic State has devoted a considerable attention to the regions of Indonesia. The groups of jihadists have been active in Indonesia but with the declaration of the caliphate of IS in Syria and Iraq has led to the rebranding of the current extremist group with the formation of new networks. It has provided a radicalized voice and the entities of IS in Syria and Iraq has given instructions to the local supporters of the region with the help of online propaganda and communication. This is why the political violence has affected its security situation of Indonesia in recent years.
In terms of terrorism and risk of armed conflict, the Islamic State has appeared to provide a unified framework for facilitating its operations in Indonesia thereby binding them into more capable and coherent force (Hall, & Smith, 2013).
Furthermore, it should be noted that the tourism industry of Indonesia has been influenced largely due to the risk of terrorism. A major attack can highly and immediately impact the travel patterns by guaranteeing the negative publicity of the country all over the globe. The terror attacks do not affect the industry directly but they surely influence it in an indirect manner (Hincks, 2018).
It has also affected the tourism revenue of Indonesia. All the above reasons make the tourism sector highly attractive target for some terrorism institutions. It also demands the industry to act appropriately to evaluate, diminish, and transmit the risk of losses emerging due to the attack. In the year 2017, there were almost 44 attacks occurring all-round the globe which had directly impacted the public transport in major cities as well as commercial sectors which are the significant components of the tourist industry.
The attacks of terrorism along with high profile events of violence often lower the confidence of travelers thereby affecting the behavior of consumers. It has also been observed that whether or not the terrorists have the intention to harm the tourism industry but their intent is surely to target the maximum casualties in the crowded places. It has been done particularly by IS and its supporters and it can have long-lasting effects (Capling & Ravenhill, 2011).
The Effect of Natural Disasters on Terrorism
So as a result, the companies operating in the tourism industry are highly susceptible to fluctuations in the revenue caused by the terrorism. It serves the purpose of terrorism of instilling fear amongst the leisure travelers (Singapore Institute of International Affairs , 2018).
Moreover, it has also posed risk to the supply chain of Indonesia by weakening its fiscal positions. The erosion of the domestic governments and frequent corruption scandals has resulted in violence that is more political. The groups such as IS and Boko Haram have taken advantages of vulnerable institutions and weak borders. It is expected that it would continue to increase the outflow of refugees from the country.
Recently, terrorism had taken a barbaric level when the members of the two families killed the people going to visit the church and police in the suicide attacks at Surabaya in Indonesia. Indonesia is in the grip of a spate of the attacks of Islamic State. The nature of these attacks had raised concerns about the reach of jihadists and the teachings of the Muslim clerics. SO, Indonesia like the other Muslim countries in Asia has faced the challenges in dealing with the extremism which is growing as a result of religious conservatism and due to the return of the former fighters of IS belonging to the Middle East( South China Morning Post, 2018).
Hence, to conclude, it can be said that it is because of the above-mentioned reasons the terrorism / political violence has affected the security situation of Indonesia in the recent years. However, the country has taken an approach in response to the radicalism and extremism emerging in the recent years.It is the country with the largest Muslim population, so it is adopting measures to implement preventive methods to equalize the efforts of law enforcement agencies and crackdowns of anti-terrorism.The country has forwarded with more urgency plans to mitigate the growth of extremism of Islam.
References
Caruso, P.(2018) . Indonesia and Terrorism: Success, Failure, and an Uncertain Future. Retrieved September 29h , 2018 from https://www.mei.edu/content/map/indonesia-and-terrorism-success-failure-and-uncertain-future
Jones, S.(2018) . How ISIS Has Changed Terrorism in Indonesia. The New York Times . Retrieved September 29h , 2018 from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/22/opinion/isis-terrorism-indonesia-women.html
John, T.(2016). Indonesia’s Long Battle With Islamic Extremism Could Be About to Get Tougher. Retrieved September 29th, 2018 from https://time.com/4181557/jakarta-terrorist-attacks-indonesia-isis/
South China Morning Post (2018). Terrorist attacks a wake-up call for Indonesia and the region .Retrieved October 5th , 2018 from https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2146998/terrorist-attacks-wake-call-indonesia-and-region
Singapore Institute of International Affairs (2018) .How Indonesia Deals With Terrorism Impacts Investments. Retrieved October 5th , 2018 from https://www.siiaonline.org/how-indonesia-deals-with-terrorism-impacts-investments/
Hincks, J.(2018). Indonesia Suffers Its Worst Terrorist Attack in a Decade. Here’s What to Know About the Latest Wave of Violence. Time . Retrieved October 5th , 2018 from https://time.com/5275738/indonesia-suicide-bombings-isis-surabaya/
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