Latest Articles about Southeast Asia
The Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and the Future of the Peace Process in the Southern Philippines
The emergence of a new rebel movement under renegade Islamist commander Ameril Umbra Kato is threatening a 14-year-old peace process in the Muslim south Philippines. Though Kato’s Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) consists of only 100 to 200 men, their impact on the ongoing peace... MORE
Jihad in Bangladesh: Profiling Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami’s Maulana Shaykh Farid
Bangladesh’s Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) forces, the country’s elite anti-terror police, achieved a much awaited breakthrough barely within a week’s time in late April this year, when they apprehended three of the most wanted terror masterminds from different areas of the Dhaka Division. The RAB’s... MORE
Indonesia’s “Ghost Birds” Tackle Islamist Terrorists: A Profile of Densus 88
After the 2002 Bali bombings, Indonesia recognized that the main threat to national security came from regional terrorist networks whose leaders returned to Indonesia after Suharto fell from power in 1998. An elite counterterrorism unit, Densus 88 (Detasemen Khusus 88, or Special Detachment 88), was... MORE
Mumbai Outraged Once Again: India Blinks, Blames Homegrown Terror
Executive Summary:In the weeks following the July 13 bomb explosions in Mumbai, responsibility for the attacks has yet to be determined. Investigative agencies have not yet pinpointed a suspect nor has any terrorist group claimed the blasts as its own doing, perhaps in order to... MORE
Chinese Perceptions of U.S. Engagement in the South China Sea
In November 2002, China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) adopted a Declaration on the Conduct of Parties (DOC) in the South China Sea (SCS), laying a political foundation for the discussion of commercial cooperation between China and ASEAN countries as well... MORE
A Life on the Run: A Profile of Jemaah Islamiyah’s Marwan
Zulkifli bin Hir (a.k.a. Zulkifli Abdkhir), who goes most frequently by the alias Marwan, is the highest ranking of the 20-30 active Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorists in the Philippines. The Philippine government intensified its manhunt for Marwan on May 1, 2011 because he has the... MORE
Trial of Indonesia’s Abu Bakr Ba’asyir a Test of Indonesia’s Counterterrorism Resolve
Reputed Jema’ah Islamiya leader Abu Bakr Ba’asyir told the Jamestown Foundation in 2005 that “the highest deed in Islam is jihad” (see Spotlight on Terror, December 16, 2005). After being arrested in August 2010, the Indonesian cleric is now on trial, facing charges under Indonesia’s... MORE
A Biographical Sketch of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front’s Murad Ebrahim
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is the Philippines’ largest Islamic secessionist and insurgent movement and is led by a man named al-Haj Murad Ebrahim. For the last eight years Ebrahim has been at the forefront of negotiating with the Philippine government for greater autonomy for... MORE
The PLA’s “Orient Express”: Militarization of the Iron Silk Road
China’s rise on the international stage has been accompanied by an increase in its military's presence. Beijing's expanding ambition is prompting calls on the country's leaders to be more proactive in protecting its national interests. These calls by Chinese analysts have raised concerns about the... MORE
Al-Awlaki Recruits Bangladeshi Militants for Strike on the United States
Rajib Karim, a 31-year-old Bangladeshi national resident in the United Kingdom, pled guilty on January 31 to charges of assisting Bangladeshi terrorist group Jamaat ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). Confessing to helping produce and distribute videos on behalf of the JMB, sending money for terrorist purposes and... MORE