Product Description

Islamic extremism in Southeast Asia has moved beyond a matter of local concern to one of global significance - as the events of the past decade have so clearly demonstrated. Drawing on intensive on-the-ground investigation and interviews with key militants, Zachary Abuza explains the emergence of radical Islamist groups in the region, examines Al-Qaida's role as organizational catalyst, and explores individual and multilateral state responses to the growing - and increasingly violent - Islamic political consciousness. Abuza also analyzes state strategies for combating, co-opting, or coping with militant Islamist groups. A key question here is whether state actors are trying to resolve the root causes of Muslim disaffection - or merely using the "war on terrorism" to suppress the symptoms.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #489945 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 281 pages

From Booklist
The recent deadly bomb attacks against Indonesian targets frequented by Westerners make this a timely and important book. Abuza is assistant professor of international politics at Simmons College, and he has traveled widely in Southeast Asia. He disturbingly asserts that al-Qaeda has successfully expanded its influence and military striking power into this volatile region, which could have dire consequences for Western interests. Concentrating primarily on the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia, Abuza shows how al-Qaeda has capitalized on lax security, corrupt bureaucracies, and legitimate grievances of Islamic groups to bond with or sometimes completely absorb indigenous Islamic movements in these nations. Many of the homegrown Islamic militants fought against the Soviets in Afghanistan, and now thousands of young men are being educated in Islamic schools across the Middle East, where they are inculcated with a Wahhabi brand of puritanical Islam that is fanatically anti-Western. Chilling and essential reading for both professionals and general readers concerned with the ongoing struggle against terrorism. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"Abuza's chilling analysis explores the cultural and religious traditions and conflicts that have spawned a growing acceptance of radical ideologies and terrorist tactics in Southeast Asia; he masterfully details the origins of various terrorist cells and their connections to larger networks throughout the region and the Middle East." - Paul J. Smith "Showing an astonishing persistence in tying together the threads of the terrorist threat, Abuza has come up with a dazzling display of Al-Qaida at work. It is rare that a book comes out with so deep and thoughtful an analysis of a contemporary subject - this may well become the standard reference on everything happening in the Southeast Asian theater of the world terror crisis." - W. Scott Thompson

About the Author
Zachary Abuza is assistant professor of international politics at Simmons College.

Customer Reviews

Frustrating work
This is a frustrating work. You read the glowing blurbs (none of them experts on Southeast Asia, to my knowledge) and you expect a great book. The book does not, alas deliver: it is good in some ways, not in others.

At one level, the book is quite good. Abuza manages to tie together a wide variety of facts into a coherent narrative. The book reads reasonably well, although there is clear evidence of haste (e.g. misspelled names). If you knew little about Islam or Southeast Asia, you'd probably come away with the impression that this is a crackerjack book.

But what if you *do* know something about Islam or Southeast Asia? Alas, here the book is irritating. Take this howler: "Because Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim country, it is easier for radicals and terrorists to fit in." (p. 123). That is an absurd statement. (On the same page, Abuza opines about former PM of Malaysia Mahathir's "insecurity about being a Muslim Malay" -- who knows what he is talking about?)

Abuza, to his credit, usually avoids such bizarre claims. But he resorts to a formulation all too common on "terrorism" experts: that there is something called "moderate" Islam in SEA and then radical or extremist (which he identifies with "Wahhabis" or Salafis).

If you know anything about Salafis, you know that Saudi Arabia is full of them, some of them probably seeing themselves as Salafis committed the 9/11 attacks . . . BUT that the vast majority of them do not embrace terrorism! No matter. Abuza paints with a broad brush and thus smears all Salafis without explaining what, exactly, in their beliefs makes them terrorists. This is intellectually lazy. It explains nothing.

The use of terror is a TACTIC. It is a tactic used by weak non-state groups of all sorts of backgrounds. What we really need to know is why, at this particular time in history, a tiny percentage of Salafis have decided that it is the tactic to use.

One last point: Abuza seems to like "moderate" Muslims. WEll, almost all Indonesians are Muslims. Some of these so-called moderates (e.g. NU, the military leadership) engaged in the killings of 1965-66 that left about 500,000 civilians dead. Some of these "moderates" killed East Timorese (over 100,000). But just as I would never use this as proof that "moderate" Muslims are bloodthirsty thugs BECAUSE OF THEIR ISLAM, so I don't think that individuals are terrorists because of their
Islam. Islam contributes a world view, and many Salafis are rigid and uncompromising in their beliefs. . . one might want to argue that Salafis are more *predisposed* to the use of terror . . . but Abuza does not even make that more nuanced argument.

My advice: read this book for the story of the different networks of terrorists in SEA. Take some of its claims with a grain of salt: after all, who really respects the Philippine intelligence services, who provide some data to Abuza. But discount Abuza's explanations on Islam.

Inept
Chapter One says it all. This is a litany of ineptitude by an acknowledged master in the field. Beyond the typographical errors and linguistic mistakes, which point to the author's lack of familiarity with any of the relevant languages needed for the work, there are major undergraduate-level mistakes. Cairo's Al-Azhar is not known as a Wahhabi institution ... And how can anybody (or anybody's editor) claim that 15 percent of Cham Buddhists are Wahhabi? This would be like asserting that 15 percent of Hindus are members of Opus Dei. Caveat emptor.

Superb Book, Shows what OPEN Sources Provided, Great Speaker

I have the advantage, in reviewing this book, of having heard the author present his views in a superb illustrated briefing that held 150 government intelligence professionals glued into their seats and fixated on the author's rapid-fire compelling presentation.

This man is a brilliant scholar who has returned to the almost lost art of combining persistent field work with foreign language open sources (both printed and oral), and thoughtful analysis.

Across the board, from his narrative to his footnotes to his bibliography to his index, this book is as good as it gets. This is a world-class contribution to our understanding in three areas: 1) what can be known about terrorism and militant Islam from open sources of information (but is being largely ignored by the so-called professional intelligence agencies that are obsessing on secret sources and methods; 2) what governments in Southeast Asia are and are not doing about it (in many cases, abusing American naiveté or being put off by American arrogance; and 3) where militant Islam is going in this area--be afraid, be very afraid.

If all academics were this good, we would not need spies. This book and this author represent the very best scholarship that one could ask for. The author is the Program Director for East Asian Studies and associate professor of international politics at Simmons College. Goggling him yields a fine selection of interviews and Congressional testimony.