E-Book Overview
Written in an accessible, journalistic style, Jihad in Paradise focuses on Southeast Asia's struggle to deal with Islamic extremists and terrorism at the hands of Jemah Islamiyah, al Qaeda's Southeast Asian arm. Although the book gives particular attention to Singapore's attempts to deal with these issues, the story extends into Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. All of these countries have significant Muslim populations, and recent violent events have affected the business environment, tourism, and the region's tradition of religious tolerance. The author draws on personal interviews with experts in the field as well as key political and religious figures in Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia, including Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, Minister for Muslim Affairs Jaacoub Ibrahim, and expelled Muslim dissident Zulfikar Mohamad Sharif. Millard examines the Bali bombing, Malaysia's conservative Islamic party PAS, the Malaysian province of Kelantan which is a Muslim political hotbed, Abu Saayaf of the Philippines, and Fateha.com and the use of the Internet. He also provides a glimpse of how Singapore, the region's most developed nation, has engineered its society in order to impose a degree of racial and religious tolerance.
E-Book Content
CHAPTER 1
} An East Gate Book Copyright © 2004 by M.E. Sharpe, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher, M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 80 Business Park Drive, Armonk, New York 10504. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Millard, Mike, 1947 Jihad in paradise : Islam and politics in Southeast Asia / Mike Millard. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 0-7656-1335-2 (alk. paper) 1. Terrorism—Asia, Southeastern. 2. Islam and terrorism—Asia, Southeastern. 3. Jamaah Islamiyah (Indonesia). 4. Jemaah Islamiyah (Singapore). 5. Jihad. I. Title. HV6433.A7852 J366 2004 303.6’25’088297’0959—dc22 2003023074
Printed in the United States of America The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z 39.48-1984.
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For the next generation, Alexa, Clarissa, Noah, Cooper, and Emerson, who carry our hopes.
We may with more successful hope resolve To wage by force or guile eternal Warr Irreconcileable, to our grand Foe, Who now triumphs, and in th’ excess of joy Sole reigning holds the Tyranny of Heav’n. —John Milton
CONTENTS
Foreword by Ivan Hall
ix
Acknowledgments
xv
Introduction
xvii
1. Arrival and Discovery
3
2. Sources of Jihad
18
3. Terror in Singapore
36
4. To Bali and Back
69
5. Malaysia and Iraq
102
6. Looking Forward
119
Notes
147
Index
151
vii
FOREWORD
Among my fellow expatriate friends in East Asia, I have treasured Mike Millard over the years not only as a conversational companion par excellence, but also as an ebullient and socially gregarious writer with a unique knack for drawing his readers into complex and potentially dry subject matter precisely by means of a narrative thread of intimate conversational interviews that allows individuals caught up in great issues to speak for themselves. And that goes for body language, too—not missing a tic of the head or a pregnant pause, be it from a cabinet minister calculating ever so briefly his appropriate spin, or from ordinary citizens genuinely perplexed by the moral or political ambiguities of the questions suddenly tossed their way. In contrast to his previ