Terror returns with a vengeance to Indonesia's fabled island resort of Bali, writes Gamal Nkrumah Militant Islam has become a most pernicious force in Southeast Asia today. Anyone who believed it had fizzled out was engaged in wishful thinking. Last Saturday, two blasts went off at Jimbaran -- a beachfront tourist haunt littered with seafood restaurants and fast food joints. Another deadly blast went off in Kuta, an exclusive upmarket resort at the southern tip of Bali. The attacks sent shockwaves throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Neighbouring Singapore stressed that the Bali blasts underlined the need for stronger regional cooperation against terrorism in Asia. "Terrorism is not easily contained," explained Malaysia's former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed. "People will perceive Muslims as being very bad people, but that is not Islam at all," he added. Saturday's beachside blasts, which killed at least 26 people and wounded 122, put Bali once again in the spotlight. The dark shadow of economic collapse once again hangs over Indonesia like a miasma. The blasts are also expected to have regional ramifications. Several countries in the region have a vibrant tourism sector -- in particular Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. Tourism accounts for five per cent of gross domestic income in Indonesia, for example. It is perhaps for this reason that militant Islamist groups target island resorts such as Bali. The number of tourists fell by 60 per cent, from 86,900 in October 2002 to 35,100 in November. Observers expect last Saturday's blasts to inevitably have a detrimental impact on the Indonesian economy. "The terrorists are still looking for soft targets," warned Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. According to Indonesia's counter terrorism chief Major General Ansyaad Mbai, the latest Bali blasts bore the hallmark of Jemaah Islamiya (JI), Southeast Asia's deadliest terrorist organisation that carried out the 12 October 2002 nightclub attacks in Bali that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians. Though no one has yet claimed responsibility for the latest bombings, Malaysians Azhari Bin Husin, nicknamed "demolition man", and Noordin Mohamed Top, alias "money man", are suspected of masterminding the attacks. Saturday's attacks occurred just days before the third anniversary of the 2002 blasts. What is especially alarming is that the Indonesian authorities had an inkling of the horror that was about to occur. In all probability they also had a rough idea of who would be behind the attacks, and they knew why they were launched. Security was tightened in Bali, but it failed to stop the attackers. Their modus operandi was classic Al-Qaeda-style: the blasts were designed to inflict a maximal cost in lives and property. The suicide bombers struck on Saturday as they did three years ago, as thousands of diners flocked to restaurants in tourist areas. Bin Husin, a former Reading University (Britain) student, uses TNT and metal slugs in his deadly attacks. He trains young Indonesian militants in the latest explosives technology. Chilling footage released by the Indonesian authorities hit the international headlines and graphically demonstrated to the whole world the horrors Bin Husin and his ilk are capable of unleashing on defenceless bystanders. Top, a former accountant using the assumed name of Abdurrachman Aufi, and married to an Indonesian national -- Munfiatun, who was imprisoned in June for concealing information from the police about her husband's whereabouts -- is suspected of funding most of the major terrorist attacks in Southeast Asia. In other words, he is the Osama Bin Laden of the Far East. The JI has stated objectives including the establishment of a giant Islamic state stretching across Southeast Asia, aiming to destabilise the region and unite Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and the southern Philippines under a militant Taliban-type Islamist regime. They have repeatedly chosen to target the island of Bali, a Hindu enclave in predominantly Muslim Indonesia. Bali, after all, is popular with Western tourists. Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, is fractured by ethnic, regional and religious strife. But Indonesia's most pressing battle is that against terrorism and Islamist militancy. This is a war fought on several fronts and with international implications. Much hope is pinned on the aptitude, political acumen and calculated moderation of the Indonesian president who signed a peace deal with the hitherto secessionist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) last August in the Finnish capital Helsinki -- a feat no other Indonesian leader has managed to pull off. "He is the democratic, moderate face of Islam, and he's somebody therefore who should be supported and helped, and the terrorists know that and they want to undermine him," Australian Prime Minister John Howard said. "He represents a threat to Islamist extremism," Howard added. Australia, the West's chief representative in the Southeast Asia region, is heading up mounting concerns that Indonesia, with 225 million people scattered over 17,000 islands, and sitting atop unimaginably vast oil and natural gas fields, timber reserves, mineral deposits, and in possession of agricultural and manufacturing potential, may fail to muster the political will to kick start an economic upturn in light of repeated terrorist attacks. True, the resource-rich archipelago has weathered many storms in the past. Provinces secede, civil wars erupt and linger on, minorities and indigenous peoples struggle for rights and recognition but the Indonesian state has held itself largely intact. Yet the Bali blasts come as a grim reminder that Indonesia's fate is set within a much wider context. "The most important point to note is that militant Islam in Southeast Asia is a regional and not a national affair. The JI is an Indonesian organisation, but its founders are Malaysian and it operates in both countries," Diaa Rashwan, terrorism and Islamic militancy expert at Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, told Al-Ahram Weekly. "Intelligence and security agents in both the United States and Southeast Asian countries know that the 11 September attacks on New York and Washington were masterminded in Southeast Asia -- most likely in Malaysia," Rashwan added. Militant Islamists have taken full advantage of the fractious politics of Southeast Asia, and especially the nascent democracy of Indonesia. "The region is especially vulnerable because of the presence of large non- Muslim minorities such as ethnic Chinese and indigenous Christians," according to Rashwan. Observers also note that the terrorist attacks in southeast Asia cannot be seen in isolation from developments in the Muslim world at large. "The decline of the role of Al-Azhar also pays a part in the spread of militant Islam in Southeast Asia. Bali is an obvious target with its nightclubs," political commentator Fahmi Howeidi told the Weekly. "Al-Azhar was associated with moderation. It was a bulwark against militant Islamism." The United States embassy in the Indonesian capital Jakarta promptly issued a statement warning American nationals in Indonesia to leave the country if they have no urgent business there throughout the month of Ramadan. "The embassy has received continued indications that terrorists could be planning additional acts in Indonesia," the statement read. "The potential remains for violence and terrorist actions against US citizens and interests throughout Indonesia." The statement stressed that hangouts frequented by Western tourists were especially vulnerable to terrorist attacks. "It is not uncommon for bars and nightclubs which remain open despite local regulations to be the subject of sweeps by local militants attempting to shut down these establishments," the statement read. Indeed, Indonesia's economic and political fate hinges on its capacity to curb Islamist militancy. Meanwhile, the world will continue to watch this vast and vital archipelago's long search for peace and prosperity.
