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Tackling TerrorMonash researchers are investigating the impact of terrorism on the Asia Pacific region in the wake of the September 11 attacks. DIANE SQUIRES reports. When three planes crashed into two of America's most famous buildings on September 11 last year, the political landscape throughout the world changed significantly. And while attention has focused mainly on the Middle East as the breeding ground for such terrorism, senior researcher in Monash University's School of Political and Social Inquiry Dr David Wright-Neville believes the Asia Pacific region should be monitored just as closely, a point made clear by the recent events in Bali. A former senior terrorism analyst with the Australian Government and world-renowned expert on conflict in Southeast Asia, Dr Wright-Neville says the US-led 'war on terrorism' and Australia's involvement in such a campaign is making the region less predictable. Dr Wright-Neville is one of 15 academics from the school conducting research under the umbrella of the recently formed Global Terrorism Research Unit at Monash. In the first of his research projects, Dr Wright-Neville, working with Associate Professor Marika Vicziany from the Monash Asia Institute, is creating a map to plot areas of conflict across Southeast Asia. The map, which is expected to be completed and available on the internet by the end of next year, will identify areas of cultural and social conflict and will be overlain with demographic and sociological data including religious affiliations, income distribution, education levels and life expectancy. Dr Wright-Neville says the map will enable researchers to identify and assess the factors involved in conflicts and will help them predict where possible terrorist activity may arise. "The map will provide the raw materials needed for determining what may motivate groups. For instance, it will give us a clear picture of the relationship between education and poverty levels and the inclination toward violence," he says. In a second project, Dr Wright-Neville is looking at the spread of new terrorist groups into Southeast Asia, particularly those linked to al Qaeda, and how government policies could be accelerating this change. He says that while al Qaeda has connections in Southeast Asia through Islamic militant group Jemaah Islamiyah, the terrorist network is not as widespread there as in other parts of the world. "Since September 11, there have been about two dozen individuals arrested on suspicion of having links to al Qaeda across the whole of Southeast Asia. The vast majority of them are thought to be members of Jemaah Islamiyah, which has close connections to al Qaeda," he says. "At the fringe of the Islamic community in Southeast Asia, there are some people whose interpretation of Islam is shifting. They are becoming much more open to the kind of radical agendas emanating from the Middle East." Dr Wright-Neville says the few Southeast Asian Muslims who are embracing al Qaeda are doing so partly because they are frustrated at the closed political environment that exists in their countries. "They're effectively prohibited from having a voice in politics - they're shut out, intimidated, brutalised and jailed for having these views - so they have a hostile view of the state. And now, in the context of the war on terrorism, the crackdown against them is becoming more severe and they are inclined to look elsewhere for help. "And, being so overtly linked to the US as Australia is, we could be seen as a partner in the marginalisation of these groups." Members of the Global Terrorism Unit are collaborating with colleagues from other schools and faculties within the university who are researching national and regional developments in the war on terrorism in Australia, the US, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and the former USSR. Other key researchers in the unit are Russian and US politics expert Dr Pete Lentini, who is coordinating the unit, Dr Shahram Akbarzadeh, a leading scholar in Islam and the politics of Central Asia, and Dr Jenny Hocking, an expert on national security issues. Dr Hocking, author of the book Beyond Terrorism: The Development of the Australian Security State, has written and spoken extensively on the federal government's counter-terrorism legislation currently before Parliament and has made submissions to two Australian parliamentary committees on the bills. According to Dr Hocking, the proposed legislation will seriously undermine aspects of the rule of law and will compromise freedom of association and political expression. "This is particularly so in the power of the Executive to ban organisations by regulation and without judicial process. These proposals have since passed into law," she says. Dr Hocking says the proposed new powers for ASIO, which would enable the organisation to detain individuals, including children, are equally troubling. "These new laws seem to be creating elements in the justice system that are vastly different to the justice system we currently enjoy. We need to consider how our response to the war on terrorism will impact on the civil and political rights of all Australians." Action box |
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