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Terrorism in Southeast Asia has been a focus of global media after July 17 attack on JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton Hotels. People need to know what are behind these suicide bombers. A background from several books might explain this phenomenon.Jihad in Paradise written by Mike Millard.Review“Traditionally, the most insightful and passionate works about the Orient have been written by outsiders. After having encountered Asia for a decade, Millard chronicles Singapore from his heart and soul. His personal and intimate knowledge of the momentous events and actors enables him to cast them artfully. Jihad in Paradise is a must read for all those who want to know Singapore, Asia-Pacific’s vanguard.” – Rohan Gunaratna, author, Inside Al Qaeda, Global Network of Terror”Product DescriptionWritten 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.
A recent book on terrorism has been writen by Maria Ressa, CNN Bureau Chief may have insight what is terrorr mission in Southeast Asia such Indonesia and Phillipines. Here one of review from Amazon. While the Middle East receives much scrutiny as the home of extremist Muslim terrorists, in Seeds of Terror, Maria Ressa offers a closer look at Southeast Asia as a hotspot where Al-Qaeda forces and other organisations are continually growing larger and more powerful. Ressa, the CNN bureau chief in Jakarta, has been based in the region for most of her career and provides a highly unsettling inside perspective to the people and events of that region. Islamist terrorist networks are, by nature, shadowy and complex, especially to Westerners who might have difficulty understanding the cultures from which they spring, but Ressa adroitly explains the various people and factions in ways that are highly compelling and deeply disturbing. Although Osama bin Laden, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, and other Middle Eastern Al-Qaeda figures are featured here, Ressa also recalls personal interviews she conducted with Abu Bakar Ba’Asyir, the so-called “Asian Osama bin Laden”, who denies any connection with terrorist organisations and acts despite voluminous evidence to the contrary. And personal experiences such as that are what make Seeds of Terror such an engrossing work of non-fiction. Tensions are consistently high in the region, especially for a western woman trying to learn the truth about what various groups are up to, and one comes to admire Ressa’s persistence in trying to get the story even while repeatedly putting herself in mortal danger. Highlights included an explanation of how a failed Al-Qaeda plot in Singapore gave way to a successful attack in Bali, the career trajectory of an Al-Qaeda operative whose training begins in adolescence and a look at the very real threat of ninja attacks. There are numerous books that provide investigations of terrorist networks but Ressa’s unique point of view, combined with how relatively under-publicised the Southeast Asian terrorist threat has been, make this a must-read for anyone trying to understand how terrorism grows and spreads. —John Moe, Amazon.com
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