The democratically elected governments in Southeast Asia have launched a massive anti-terror campaign this month, targeting Muslims of all walks of life and depicting religious and separatist movements as terror beds in the region. The recent events set a dangerous precedence in the world and are definitely a wake up call to all Muslims around the World to stand up and defend their liberties and legitimate aspirations.

Singapore unleashed a bombshell with the news that it arrested 21 Jamaat Islamia members in August this year. The specific month of August is important for the region as it celebrates the Independence anniversaries of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

Malaysia released numerous announcements that the country is ready to tackle non-al-Qa’eda terror groups, including locals who have links with regional separatist movements. Indonesia, in an effort to join the anti-terror league, subsequently said it would investigate thoroughly all information of terror links in the country.

The Philippines too is working means to link separatist movements and other legitimate Islamic groups to the World Wide Web of terror. Life for Muslims in the Southeast Asian region is bound to become more difficult than it has been in the aftermath of the September 11^th attacks on the US.

The arrests in Singapore in August indicate that the country had fears that there would be attempts by specific groups to undermine the country’s stability and to bring it closer to further troubles with Malaysia and Indonesia.

The arrests are also supposed to show that racial riots could have broken out in the country and that a situation similar to that in the Malukus, an Indonesian province where Muslims and Christians butchered each other for years, could have occurred in Singapore.

In response to these arrests, the Singapore authorities decided that a “religious code of conduct” should be imposed in order to check and balance on religious extremism, see Islamic religious extremism in the process.

Islam a Source of Global Terror?

The fact that Singapore arrested those men described as taxi drivers, reflexologists, businessmen, religious leaders and government workers, shows another dangerous precedence in the strategy to discriminate and ostracize Muslims and intoxicate the minds of the masses that Islam and Muslims are the sources of terror on a global scale.

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) elements from Sri Lanka visited the tiny Island on many occasions; they met with many local Singaporeans of Tamil origins that would definitely have supported them financially and otherwise. Yet the Singaporean authorities never arrested any of the local “operatives” of the LTTE. This could have prevented many acts of violence in Sri Lanka or India. Are they still active on the Island?

The not-so religious Fulangong movement also has roots in Singapore. Its members from China visited the tiny republic. Some of its local operatives were briefly arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA), but the movement is still alive in Singapore and they still have plans to disrupt China on a large scale if they are left unchecked. They are considered a “terror” organization by the Chinese authorities.

Other non-Muslim elements living in Singapore surely have other designs that could lead to chaos in other areas of the world if the Singapore authorities do not tag them as the Muslims are being tagged. There are groups close to the Dalai Lama fighting against Chinese occupation in Tibet for example. It is improbable that they are not to be found in Singapore.

Palestinians and Iraqis have very limited access to Singapore. The authorities decided that Palestinians should not be allowed into Singapore since the country has a too obvious Jewish implantation on its soil. Once again, Muslims are singled out.

There is little wonder why the Muslims in Singapore are upset that the rounds of arrests could be endless. They also worry it would deplete the community of its hard core religious, business and grass root leaders who would be arrested on the grounds of fermenting terror activities without concrete proof ever being delivered.

The Singapore government laid down a well-written plan for Muslims in Singapore to follow step by step. It says that if they are not to be cast aside in the tiny island nation they would have to adopt a very moderate life style where they would be expected to use and promote the “moderate” aspects of Islam.

In his Independence Day speech Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said that Muslims must realize that extreme attitudes and ways of life are not possible in Singapore. He invited them to seek knowledge and not to indulge in extremist activities. This clearly indicated that Singapore would in the future allow Muslims that abide to these very strict rulings.

Lack of Evidence

What is most worrisome in the events in Singapore and in Southeast Asia, however, is that the authorities can never come forward with hard proof and concrete evidence to firmly nail those they accuse of terror links. In January this year the Singapore authorities released videos of what it says are targets of the Jamaat Islamia. The voice of one of the suspected members of the Jamaat Islamia could be heard, explaining to a supposedly al-Qa’eda audience on how to attack the US embassy in Singapore.

The evidence was dismissed by a majority of observers as flimsy and insufficient, yet the authorities challenged the skeptics with a bigger stick and further ISA arrests in order to shut down criticism. In the present round of arrest, the Singapore authorities have little to show to the public on the reasons why these 21 alleged Jamaat Islamia members were arrested.

Drawings, maps and photographs do not support the strong assertions by the local intelligentsia that these people were devising such a grand plan to sink the richest nation in Southeast Asia into the doldrums of racial riots, violence and a large-scale human tragedy.

Malaysia arrested hundreds of Muslims with links to terror organizations or with the intention to create a “Daulatul Islam” or a pan-Islamic nation enclosing Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and parts of Thailand. Due to the intricate nature of the ISA, no evidence was presented to prove these people were really involved in such activities.

The lack of proof is damaging since it creates suspicions on the veracity of the findings of these country’s intelligentsia. Singapore is a small Island with tons of security features and a strong penetrating intelligentsia. The authorities also have well documented files on each and every persons living on the island, foreigners or locals altogether.

Regional Links

The next element of danger in the rounds of arrests and crackdown in Southeast Asia is that local intelligentsias have linked the Jamaat Islamia members to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), a purely Islamic rebel movement fighting for a territory in Mindanao, the Philippines. The MILF has been recognized worldwide as a genuine independence movement. It has the support of Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and, most importantly, a huge majority of the Muslim population in the Philippines.

The aspirations of the MILF are legitimate and their aim of establishing an Islamic state in parts of Mindanao is also a legitimate dream. This is also the legitimate dream of many Muslims: A Muslim state where a Muslim leader is elected as the Caliph and Islam rules.

The MILF is in contact with groups fighting for independence or for “Freedom” in Pattani, southern Thailand and in Aceh, Indonesia. The Pattani United Liberation Organization (PULO) was said to have been instrumental in feeding the MILF with arms while the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) probably trained a large number of MILF and PULO members in guerilla warfare.

The MILF territorial control of huge chunks of land in Mindanao helped it establish a military academy where Muslims from Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar and probably Malaysia were trained in the same guerilla warfare tactics.

Many of these fighters were involved in Afghanistan, some even wrote books on their experiences as Mujahideen fighters who fought against the Russians. Yet does that mean the aim of these training camps were designed to create terror chieftains who would join international terror groups and embark on the creation of a Pan-Islamic state in the region as claimed by the Singapore government?

The MILF opened its camps in order to receive military aid and get maximum support from Muslims worldwide.

Moles in the Philippines military are currently rubbing their hands with the recent events in Singapore, since it provides them with “evidence” that the MILF is a terror group. However ridiculous the “evidence” is, it will not be surprising to see a military onslaught, aided by the US special forces against specific MILF targets in Mindanao pretty soon, IslamOnline was told.

Respect for Singapore Muslims

On the streets in Singapore, Muslims single out what they call the “anti-Muslim drive” by the regime in place. Muslims say that they have grounds to complain against a government that does not favor Muslims at the work place. Muslims are not always given their dues; they do not climb the echelons of management easily and are hampered by red tape that favors non-Muslims, particularly Chinese elements who are of lesser managerial skills or of lesser experience.

If there are anti-government elements in Singapore that are Muslims and are getting assistance from abroad, then it is probably high time for the authorities to address the ills that have sidelined Muslims and offer them a larger share of meritocracy and respect in order to stem out any ideas of extremism and hatred in a community that has for too long been ostracized.

This would probably secure the tiny Island and the region in general and bring a brighter future to many Muslims who feel sidelined by the “un-official” policies in the Chinese dominated country.

Kazi Mahmood is a former BBC radio Africa stringer covering the Indian Ocean Islands. He worked as a journalist for the past 20 years and contributed to several London based political and economic magazines. You can reach him at kazi_mahmood@yahoo.com

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