Indonesia: The Latent Threat
Exacerbating the problem of Islamist terrorism in Indonesia has been the relative proximity of other nations home to terrorists that are pursuing parallel goals. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) operating on Mindanao in the Philippines and Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia (KMM), which concentrates its efforts onMalaysia, both abet the advancement of Islamist terror in Indonesia. These organizations work closely with Jemaah Islamiyah, The Front for Defenders of Islam, the Free Aceh Movement, and various other Islamist terror groups whose goal is to usher in Islamist states.
The aforementioned terror organizations, along with other less significant Islamist groups, provide a nexus of support and funding that makes fighting terror solely on an internal basis both impractical and ineffectual. The geography of the area only compounds the problem since the transportation of both men and supplies is expedited by porous borders inherent in an archipelago nation. Finally, the environment of most of the islands that make up the Indonesian archipelago is one of thick jungle, thus allowing Islamists to perpetuate their religious war with relative impunity.
Despite the escalating risk associated with the encroachment of Islamism on Indonesian society, Indonesian politicians have largely chosen not to address the situation out of fear of not being re-elected. The increasing proportion of the Indonesian population that is sympathetic to Islamist ideologies and the fact that neither of the two major parties – Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle – regularly carries a majority makes Islamist politics disproportionately strong in relation to its current backing. Action must be taken in order to stem the rising tide of Islamism before it becomes a firmly entrenched element in Indonesian society.
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