Domestic political sensitivities were sepverely tested by the worldwide response to the Tsunami crisis, particularly as armed forces from Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and the United States poured into the province of Aceh which has been waging a separatist conflict with the central government for... MORE

The humanitarian catastrophe caused by the December 26 tsunami has led to an outpouring of humanitarian aid and support from some unlikely quarters. While media attention has focused on how the relief efforts will affect the Indonesian armed forces (TNI) counter-insurgency campaign against the Acehnese... MORE

A spike in armed confrontations in January and indications of a developing alliance between the region's Islamist insurgent groups have underlined the fragility of the ongoing peace talks between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the largest of the Muslim separatist organizations... MORE

The noose may be tightening on Islamist militant rebels on Jolo island, but the rebellion clearly still has teeth, judging from a spate of attacks claimed by the Abu Sayyaf group on February 14. Bombs within one hour of each other exploded in crowded areas... MORE

While Bangladesh government spokesmen dismiss the notion of the presence of international Islamist militants in the country, and intelligence agents attempt to identify the local sources of a New York Times article in January that depicted ripe conditions for the "next Islamist revolution", events in... MORE

The war on terror has continued apace in Southeast Asia, and the governments in the region and their Western counterparts deserve credit for the arrests of some 250 Jemaah Islamiya (JI) members through December 2003. Several of the members of JI's regional shura, its leadership... MORE

In October of 2002 the worst international terrorist incident since the September 11 suicide strikes in Washington and New York took place on the island of Bali. It involved a series of coordinated explosions in a popular tourist nightspot district that collectively killed 202 people,... MORE

Beijing has several global security concerns regarding terrorism. Foremost among these are China's relations with the United States, and since September 2001, the U.S.-led War on Terrorism. Beijing is also worried about the Islamic/Arab World, especially in working to ensure China's supply of oil and... MORE

Modern Islamic militancy emerged in Indonesia during the late 1940s and the early 1950s. Darul Islam (Abode of Islam), a radical Islamist group whose vision was to establish an Islamic state in Indonesia, revolted in West Java in the 1950s. The rebellion was crushed, and... MORE

Talks which began on April 18 between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) are being flagged as a ‘breakthrough' in the eight-year bid to put an end to decades of guerrilla warfare in the southern Philippines, but are coming at a... MORE