Radical Muslim Tangos in SE Asia

[bulldogg]

Right forum for this discussion.

al-Qaeda

Mothertongue Name:
pig ****er

Aliases: Al Qaida, Qa‘idat al-Jihad, The Base

Base of Operation: Afghanistan; Albania; Algeria; Australia; Austria; Azerbaijan; Bahrain; Bangladesh; Belgium; Bosnia; Egypt; Eritrea; FRY (Kosovo); France; Germany; India; Iran; Ireland; Italy; Jordan; Kenya; Lebanon; Libya; Malaysia; Mauritania; Netherlands; Pakistan; Philippines; Qatar; Russia; Saudi Arabia; Somalia; South Africa; Sudan; Switzerland; Tajikistan; Tanzania; Tunisia; Turkey; Uganda; United Arab Emirates; United Kingdom; United States; Uzbekistan; Yemen

Free Aceh Movement (GAM)

Mothertongue Name:
Gerakin Aceh Merdeka (GAM)

Aliases: Aceh Security Disturbance Movement

Base of Operation: Indonesia; Malaysia; Sweden

Founding Philosophy: The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) sought to establish an independent Islamic kingdom in the province of Aceh, located on the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It was formed in the mid-1970s and issued a formal declaration of independence in December 1976.

Jemaah Islamiya (JI)

Aliases: Islamic Community, Islamic Group

Base of Operation: Indonesia; Malaysia; Philippines; Singapore

Founding Philosophy: Jemaah Islamiyah, which means “Islamic Community,” was formed in Johor, Malaysia around 1993. While Jemaah Islamiyah did not exist as a violently brutal terrorist entity until 1993, the group’s roots began to take shape years earlier. In 1973 two Muslim clerics, Abdullah Sungkar and Abu Bakar Bashir, formed a pesantren in Solo, Indonesia called Pondok Ngruki. At this time, the men were supporters of Darul Islam, a conservative Islamic movement. In addition, the two clerics had formulated the radical goal of creating an Islamic state in Indonesia.

Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia (KMM)

Base of Operation: Indonesia; Malaysia; Philippines

Founding Philosophy: Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia (KMM) is an Islamic group based in Malaysia, specifically in the Malaysian states of Perak, Johor, Kedah, Selangor, Terengganu and Kelantan, as well as the federal territory of Wilayah Persukutuan. KMM is dedicated to overthrowing the current Malaysian government and then creating an Islamic state in its place. The group, however, does not limit its planned Islamic state to Malaysia, but also aims to include Indonesia and the southern Philippines, thus creating a pan-Southeast Asian Islamic state.

Mujahideen Division Khandaq

Base of Operation: Indonesia; Malaysia

Founding Philosophy: Mujahideen Division Khandaq is a terrorist group that has only claimed one attack in its history, the August 2000 bombing of the Filipino ambassador’s residence in Jakarta, Indonesia. Two people were killed in the explosion and twenty one were injured, including the ambassador, who was assumed to be the target of the attack.

Sri Nakharo

Base of Operation: Malaysia; Thailand

Founding Philosophy: Srikharo is one of several Muslim extremist groups participating in a violent separatist campaign being waged in Thailand’s southern provinces. These groups are based in both Malaysia and Thailand, and are fighting for an independent state in Thailand’s majority Muslim south. Little is known about Sri Nakharo. Although they are thought to be a splinter group from the “Mujahideen Pattani” movement, the group’s membership might be drawn from any of a dozen similar militant organizations in southern Thailand.

Front for Defenders of Islam

Mothertongue Name:
Front Pembela Islam (FPI)

Aliases: Islamic Defenders Front

Base of Operation: Indonesia

Founding Philosophy: Front for Defenders of Islam is an Islamic organization dedicated to the application of strict Sharia law throughout Indonesia. Front for Defenders of Islam, often referenced by its Indonesian acronym FPI, frequently attacks institutions and businesses that the group accuses of breaking Islamic law. Despite the group’s strict religious foundation, FPI is not specifically dedicated to the re-creation of Indonesia as an Islamic state. Instead, FPI concentrates on local issues and entities, which the group accuses of insufficiently following Islamic law.

Komando Jihad (Indonesian)

Aliases: Holy War Command

Base of Operation: Indonesia

Founding Philosophy: Komando Jihad was a shadowy offshoot of the extremist Darul Islam movement in Indonesia. Darul Islam has been an active militant organization since the 1940s, and is dedicated to the foundation of an Islamic state in Indonesia. The Darul Islam movement is famous for leading a series of rebellions in the 1950s in West Java against the secular Indonesian government. By 1962, Darul Islam had been all but crushed by the Indonesian government, and its main leadership had been captured and killed. Despite these setbacks, the Darul Islam movement has continued low-level operations into the present day. However, the group’s beliefs saw a more active revival in the mid 1970s with the emergence of Komando Jihad.

Mujahideen KOMPAK

Aliases: Laskar Mujahideen KOMPAK

Base of Operation: Indonesia

Founding Philosophy: Mujahideen KOMPAK is a Jemaah Islamiya (JI) splinter organization whose stated goal is to create an Islamic government in Indonesia. Mujahideen KOMPAK mainly functions as a force multiplier, quickly training and equipping locals to take up arms, but it possesses its own rapid-response force as well. Created from one faction of JI that felt the organizational structure of the group was too bureaucratic and slow to act, Mujahideen KOMPAK now functions independently, though its leaders are believed to have come mostly from JI.

Nusantara Islamic Jihad Forces

Mothertongue Name:
Angkatan Mujahideen Islam Nusantara (AMIN)

Aliases: Abu Bakar Battalion F Kompi, Force of Indonesian Muslim Jihad Fighters, Nusantara Islamic Mujahideen Front

Base of Operation: Indonesia

Founding Philosophy: Angkatan Mujahideen Islam Nusantara (AMIN) is an offshoot of the extremist Darul Islam (DI) movement in Indonesia. The group shares the broad ideology of DI, in that it supports “Islamic Nusantara”, or the creation of an Islamic state in Southeast Asia that stretches from Southern Thailand to Mindanao.

http://www.tkb.org/NewSurvey.jsp

For purposes of discussion I will leave out any argument based on my own personal experiences in Indonesia and stick to accepted public facts.

The biggest indicator for me based on the empirical data that would show Malaysia to be more radical than Indonesia in terms of its Muslim ideology is the fact that AQ only operates in Malaysia and not Indonesia. And I am not alone in this assessment.

Malaysia has experienced a more active record in terms of political Islam, and has been subject to the growth of overtly radical elements for the last two decades.

http://www.jcpa.org/jl/jl436.htm

 

[Infern0]

some nice research there bulldog...and i'm not going to dispute your evidence,
but when i was there, i never felt threatened as a westerner, and the chinese catholics and (ethnic indian hindus) i talked to had never felt
threatened or persecuted for their beliefs


contrast this with what was happening elsewhere in the region; islamic sepratists were bombing tourist spots in thailand. and in indonesia, there were parts of town i was told to stay out of.


now of course, these are just my perceptions, but i believe that what malaysia has done, considering their history and the powder keg of ethnic and religious issues they deal with, i believe malaysia has a big future ahead of them.


(plus, i have NEVER eaten better food! lol)

 

[phoenix80]

some nice research there bulldog...and i'm not going to dispute your evidence,
but when i was there, i never felt threatened as a westerner, and the chinese catholics and (ethnic indian hindus) i talked to had never felt
threatened or persecuted for their beliefs

contrast this with what was happening elsewhere in the region; islamic sepratists were bombing tourist spots in thailand. and in indonesia, there were parts of town i was told to stay out of.

now of course, these are just my perceptions, but i believe that what malaysia has done, considering their history and the powder keg of ethnic and religious issues they deal with, i believe malaysia has a big future ahead of them.

(plus, i have NEVER eaten better food! lol)

Parts of Philipines, Indonesia, Thailand and Pakistan are hot beds of ugly and dangerous terrorists

 

[bulldogg]

Lest you forget Bangladesh, right now it is host to the most and the most extreme madrassas currently in operation.

Inferno, my wife is an ethnic Chinese Indonesian Catholic. I attended church, nothing threatening about it. The problems between ethnic Indonesians and the ethnic Chinese goes back to the Dutch policies. They used the Chinese as middlemen and scapegoats for the Indos to vent their frustrations against over colonial rule. It has nothing to do with religion. Only in certain pockets such as Sulawesi do Christians fear for their lives owing to religion. Malaysia is much smaller and faces fewer forces pulling at it trying to rip it apart. There has never been an "Indonesia" prior to the Dutch, each island of the 80K around were kingdoms unto themselves. Indonesia is a fabricated country dominated by ethnic Javanese and most of its problems therein lie, Islam is just the excuse. The Indonesians follow a brand of Islam that blends many aspects of their native animism into it.

I'm glad you enjoyed Malaysia.

 

[phoenix80]

Lest you forget Bangladesh, right now it is host to the most and the most extreme madrassas currently in operation.

Did you read "Imperial Grunts" by Robert D. Kaplan? It gives a good account on how the US special forces are helping the regional governments combat radical islamic terrorists in SE Asia...

I'd recommend it

 

[Infern0]

Lest you forget Bangladesh, right now it is host to the most and the most extreme madrassas currently in operation.

Inferno, my wife is an ethnic Chinese Indonesian Catholic. I attended church, nothing threatening about it. The problems between ethnic Indonesians and the ethnic Chinese goes back to the Dutch policies. They used the Chinese as middlemen and scapegoats for the Indos to vent their frustrations against over colonial rule. It has nothing to do with religion. Only in certain pockets such as Sulawesi do Christians fear for their lives owing to religion. Malaysia is much smaller and faces fewer forces pulling at it trying to rip it apart. There has never been an "Indonesia" prior to the Dutch, each island of the 80K around were kingdoms unto themselves. Indonesia is a fabricated country dominated by ethnic Javanese and most of its problems therein lie, Islam is just the excuse. The Indonesians follow a brand of Islam that blends many aspects of their native animism into it.

I'm glad you enjoyed Malaysia.

i loved malaysia, and hope to go back soon. completely felt welcomed and was blown away by the culture, THE FOOOOOD, and by being completely being out of my depth.