The Talibanization of Southeast Asia: Losing the War on Terror to Islamist Extremists

Long before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, awakened the United States and the Western world to the heightened level of the terrorist threat, Southeast Asia had been dealing with this threat. The bombing in Bali that killed 202 people, many of them Australian tourists, was by no means the region's first experience with Islamic extremism, which can be traced back to the 1940s, and the Darul Islam struggle. The most recent group to emerge is Al-Jama'ah Al-Islamiyah (AJAI), the most potent Islamic terrorist organization to date in the region and the group behind the Bali bombing. Understanding the process of Talibanization in Southeast Asia, which was once an oasis of moderate Islam in the modern world, is a key to unraveling the mystery of the increased radicalization in the region.

Bilveer Singh is Associate Professor of Political Science at the National University of Singapore. A former Fulbright Scholar, he is the author of nine books, includingSuccession Politics in Indonesia: The 1998 Presidential Elections and the Fall of Suharto (2000), andPolitics and Government in Singapore: An Introduction (2007).