October 2000

Islamic Fundamentalism

The increase of Islamic fundamentalism in South-East Asia

Islamic fundamentalism, a radical and strict implementation of the the Islamic faith and its holy book, the Koran, has become a very popular religion and has been able to attract ever more followers in the Islamic world. What started in Iran, as the religious caste under the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini, could take over power, developed into a dynamic in which the Islamic case could spread all out over the Islamic world. With Iran as a lightning example and with active support of Iran all countries in the Arab and Islamic world saw the emergence of Islamic fundamentalistic organisations as the Islamic Brotherhood, the Jihad, Hamas and Hezbollah.

The Islamic fundamentalist organisations have in general a three tiered policy. Firstly, to attract the people for their case by providing free education, medical services, food and sometimes even employment. They give the people hope and a goal in a world, a country, which does not care about and provide to much to the people. The majority of the countries with a large number of Islamic inhabitants are run by autocratic governments which are very often incapable, corrupt, suppressive and are only very generous to their own group or clan. The Islamic fundamentalistic organisations have become that popular because they are the only charity organisation in the country who do actually something for the people, even if they have a hidden agenda, e.g. a clear political objective.

Secondly, to undermine the government by the infiltration of fundamentalistic personalities in the government hierarchy and then especially in the security apperatus, state department, treasury and regonial and local entities.

And thirdly, by which they are so much feared all around the world, by the application of violence to all kind of perceived national and international enemies. The attacks of the fundamentalistic organisations are not only aimed at the security and other kind of controlling government services but also at economic targets and all kind of persons, including foreign tourists, which might be perceived as enemies of the Islam or the achievement of their objectives.

Islamic fundamentalism has found inroads into various countries in the Middle East, Africa and in Asia. Their influence, role, differs from suppressed oppositon and often terrorist movement, influential interest group, political party to dominant ruling party. Iran and Afghanistan are examples of the last group and the Islamic Brotherhood in Egypt an example of the first.

All fundamentalistic movements have some kind of relation with eachother. There are regular meetings and they support eachother with advice, material, money, armement and men. The level of support will vary but if possible it is very intensive and large. The only exception might be the relations between Afghanistan and Iran which can be called as bad if not outright hostile. The countries are neighbors which have some differences in the interpretation and execution of the religion, call their case the right one and are after the same group of clientele.

A new and relatively underdeveloped area of interest of the Islamic movement is South-East Asia. Large groups of Islamic people live in this region who have become dissatisfied with the government and feel unfair treated by those governments. The right circumstances to promote the fundamentalistic case.

Islamic fundamentalism in South-East Asia

The Islamic religion has established itself a long time ago in South-East Asia, it has become in some countries or regions the dominating religion. The religion did not play a very important role in the live of the average South-East Asian civilian but this changed very quickly. As the economies of the South-East Asian countries deteriorated and political and social instability increased the peoples of the region remembered, re-discovered, the religion which might offer an escape from the misery which encountered them. The attraction became even stronger as the western world could be blamed for everything bad and worse happening in their region or in the world for that matter. A concept invented by and very often used by Islamic fundamentalistic organisations. The west as the evil and decadent aimed to destroy the right and good Islamic faith and people.

The Islamic people of Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines became more religious in the time of hardship and according the fundamentalistic conviction they could blame the world for their misery. Islamic fundamentalism offered a chance for improvement of the political, economical and social situation of the people. The return to the old rules and values has been especially beneficial for the self-esteem of the people. It could be improved and the association in a group provided a platform to receive comfort and support and to operate against the ruling government. In short it offered alternatives, leadership, support and hope for a better future.

Islamic fundamentalism have and will change Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. The way it will change and what will be the implications of more fundamentalistic rule in those countries will be dependent on the level of true Islamic government, the duration of the economic hardships and the hostility between the different religions and ethnic groups in the region.

If the Islamic government is like that of Iran or Afghanistan the changes will be very large and will fuel the hostilities between the different groups. If the hostilities take to long and have caused to much hatred among the population any peaceful co-existence will become very difficult. Not to talk about the international reactions to the atrocities. It will destroy any investments into the region. Those countries would be considered as to insecure and to unreliable on the short to medium term as an investment opportunity. The consequences of Islamic fundamentalism should not be underestimated, in a worst case scenario it will destroy any chance of progress.

The Philippines

Since many years the Philippines suffer from an insurgency in the south of the country. The Islamic majority in the south of the country, Mindanao and the surrounding islands, demand more autonomy or even independence from the Philippines which is a Christian country. After an agreement was reached with at that time largest muslim organisation, the Moro National Liberation Front, another smaller but more radical muslim organisation, Moro Islamic Liberation Front, refused to join the agreement. The MILF continued to fight the government and could for some time, with the acceptance of the government during the extensive negotiations period, built their own infra-structure with several training camps in the area.

The struggle however continued during the negotiations only the intensity varied somewhat. In a near equal development the negotiations collapsed, and the fighting between the two sides increased. The government was succesful in the fight as the majority of the MILF camps could be taken over by government forces, thus severely hurting the fighting capability of the MILF. The return to the jungle was the only option for the MILF after the recent defeats. But never the less the MILF remains a force to be reckoned with. They are still capable to launch small scale operations and subsequently keep large number of forces occupied and damaging the economy of the region.

Beside the MILF there are several other organisations fighting the Philippine government. They all demand an independent Islamic home land for the muslim population and they are not willing to settle for anything less. These organisations like the Abu Sayyaf Group, most are less succesful ASG copies, are rather extreme in their conviction but they are also very criminal. The majority of their time is used by criminal activities like kidnapping. The ASG became recently very well known because of the kidnapping of several tourist from a Malysian holiday island and the large ransoms paid by Libya to liberate the hostages. One might question the Libyan sincerity as Libya has a record of supporting all kind of terrorist organisations especially if they fight the west and are of Islamic origin.

The Philippines will have a lot of problems with the dissatisfied muslim minority in the country. The majority of the muslims will feel comfortable with the autonomy they have received on Mindanao but a minority will continue fighting the government. The MILF can be controlled at some level but the ASG kind of organisations are much more difficult to defeat as the criminal activities make them very attractive to the youths in the region and their organisation structure and scale make them difficult to destroy. For every one destroyed a new one will emerge just as fast. The criminal activities of the ASG kind of organisations are much to tempting in the economical underdeveloped region of the southern Philippines were poverty and unemployment are all around.

Malaysia

The Malaysian federation is a country with an Islamic majority. The Islam is the largest religion which is having an increasing impact on the society. Elements of the Islamic law, the Sharia, have been introduced in the Malaysian legal code. This to satisfy some conservative elements in the Malaysian society but also to control the population and to limit the influence of fundamentalistic organisations.

The Asian economic crisis and the subsequent political instability of the government of dr. Mahatir bin Mohamad caused a lot of discontent in the population. The opposition in the country had been virtually suppressed by many years and Islamic fundamentalism offered in this stiuation not really an opportunity, as its major political objectives had been fulfilled by the government. The government policy of introducing Islamic rules and traditions in the society and the economic progress destroyed any real organised opposition.

The opposition could only find a home in cult like organisations like the Al-Ma’unah, the Brotherhood of Inner Power. The Al-Ma’unah is originally an organisation associated with martial arts and traditional medicine who only later and by a small group started to embrace the idea of an islamic state. The followers of the Al-Ma’unah, about 1.000 people, are from the whole Malaysian society with a majority coming from the middle class and former military people. The group is not really a political organisation and hardly a terrorist organisation. Only a small group within the Al-Ma’unah are belonging to the group who demand a political change.

This small group who demand an Islamic state are the most active oppostion in Malaysia and are suspected of doing more than just political opposition. They are certainly willing to use force to reach their goals.

These members are suspected of robbing weapons, ammunition and explosives from the Malaysian armed forces and they are allegedly willing to use them. The people who staged the largest robbery of arms in Malaysia could be apprehended very quickly after the theft but the radicalisation and the intensity of the battle at the arrest of the criminals made the government very worrisome about the threat of the Al-Ma’unah.

The activities of the majority of the opposition movements could be controlled until now but the dissatisfaction about the policy of the government increases in the society. The level of organisation is still rather rudimentary but this could change on the short term if no changes in the government are made.

The opposition and the dissatisfaction in the population is increasing and will have to be channeled otherwise it will explode right in the face of the government without that they have the opportunity to end it. The opposition organised in the Al-Ma’unah have a clear political objective and they are willing to use every method available for them. The Islamicification of the society is just part of their strategy, the organisation of the opposition and to force the current government out of power are equally important, if not more important.

The violence, instability, will most likely increase in Malaysia on the short term as the population will probably get more disappointed by the government and the opposition will become larger and more aggressive. Islamic fundamentalistic ideas will play a role in it to attract people and keep them in line. This will however automatically mean more power to the fundamentalists and a closed and intolerant society.

Indonesia

Indonesia, the most populous Islamic country in the world is experiencing several problems in the large and divided country. The Asian economic crisis has had the worst effects in Indonesia. Not only its economy, financial system and currency collapsed but also the integrity of the country has been severly undermined. Ever more ethnic groups and some regions of the country want to have more autonomy or even independence from Indonesia. The centralised state which used to run the country out of Jakarta is having ever more difficulties to control, satisfy, the peoples living outside Java.

Groups in the country, with overt and covert support of the government, are rallying against the ethnic groups in the country who demand autonomy or independence. With the use of violence, beating, raping, killing, burning and looting, the groups operate against the ethnic groups. This has been and is happening on the Moluka island group, West-Papua, Borneo, Sumatra and on Celebes.

It has become a normal procedure in Indonesia to react on problems with violence against ethnic/religious minorities. As the Asian crisis started, the ethnic Chinese were blamed and proscecuted by groups of Javanese. Soon after the Christian people from the Molukas who were living in Jakarta and on Java were targeted.

As the problems in the outer regions, Molukas, Celebes, Sumatra, Borneo, West-Papua and on East-Timor, became more present and active, the reaction was the same. The Javanese, Muslims, who migrated to the outer regions, or for that matter neighboring islands, started to terrorise the regions in an effort to stop the autonomy/independence ideas. These groups were later reinfoced with people from Java to increase the strength and fighting power of the groups in defeating the autonomy/independence movements.

The Islam was and is increasingly used as a weapon against the ethnic minorities in the regions who demand autonomy or independence. This support for these groups became only possible as the Indonesian society could become more fundamentalistic.

The crisis caused a lot of poverty in Indonesia which offered a fertile ground for the fundamentalistic Islamic organisations who became ever more radical. By putting the blame for the crisis at foreign organisations and countries, like the financial institutions and the U.S.A., the Indonesian Islamic organisations quickly found friends with other fundamentalistic organisations in the world.

The Indonesian politics and society, at least the Javanese and the muslim communities throughout the country, could become ever more fundamentalistic. The Islam will provide a bound between the muslims and an instrument to maintain as much power as possible for the current political hierarchy and system.

The Indonesian fundamentalists are not the fundamentalists as we know them out of the Middle East or Afghanistan, they are dressed and behave like the average Indonesian, Javanese. But their retoric and policies are just like that of the Islamic Brotherhod or the Iranian mullahs.

Other ethnic and religious groups will most likely have not a bright future on the short to medium term in Indonesia. They pose a to big threat the current power structure in Indonesia. The larger groups/islands could eventually get their way as they are to far away, geographically, or are to large as a group. But the smaller groups and islands will not stand a chance against the agression of the fundamentalistic organisations.

Indonesia still believes it can control the Islamic fundementalistic organisations, who are doing the dirty work for them, but they will proof to be wrong. The power, influence and stamina of the Islamic organisations will be stronger and more effective then anticipated. They will demand a reward and they will most likely get it as the popular support for these organisations will most likely increase. They deliver hope and an opportunity to improve the lives of the ordinary citizens and they actually did something, something the politicians could not do.

The Islamic fundamentalistic organisations slowly undermine the government structure of Indonesia which is very complicated and dependent on personal relations. This complicated structure gives the fundamentalists a perfect opportunity to manipulate all people of influence and execute their policy. The Islamification of the country with all territories of Indonesia firmly under central control, e.g. the rule of Islamic Jakarta.

If the current politicians do not act immediately to end the violence with all means available, if they do not pacify the outer regions with acceptable agreements to all concerning parties, if they do not initiate programs to stimulate the economy to create some progress for all groups in all parts of Indonesia and if they do not put the country’s interest above party politics the Islamic fundamentalist organisations will get ever more influence and a take over of power will then be inevitable.