Most of the world is no longer interested in legalese and arguments about details. As Tenet reminded America yesterday, that AlQaida is quite capable of attacking US again on US territory. So we, americans, can ignore this threat at our own peril. Buying into this song and dance from the AlQaida supporters is just going to cause more harm. The issue for the muslim countries is boiling down to is whether they are going to join the rest of the world and progress in science etc. or they going to whip up the emotions of the people and slip into isolation. Here is an article by a malaysian and I think he expresses this view quite clearly:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_18-10-2002_pg3_2
Op-ed: How Washington and West will exploit Bali bombings
Farish A Noor
If America, Britain and Australia are so concerned about the excessive violence and the culture of terror that exists in Indonesia today, one has to ask the obvious question: Why did they not speak out when human rights abuses were taking place in places like East Timor, Aceh and Irian in the past
In the wake of the bombings in Bali and Sulawesi, Indonesia, a number of western governments have jumped on Washington’s “anti-terror” bandwagon with gusto. Overnight, the government of Britain claimed that it would renew its efforts to wipe out terrorism the world over, and that it would lend its support to America’s campaign to promote itself as the world’s global policeman. The Australian government was also quick to blurt out the right words at the right time: Australian politicians claimed that the bombings in Bali was their own “September 11” and “ground zero”. Tactless and opportunistic as it was, few of these Western politicians cared to point out that the primary victims of the bombings in Bali and Sulawesi have been, and will be, the Indonesians themselves.
Already suffering under the heavy yoke of a dysfunctional state and an economy on the brink of collapse, the people of Indonesia will now have to pay an exorbitant price for the attacks on Bali recently. Foreign investors have threatened to pull out of the country en masse, while tourist bookings to Indonesia — a country that lives on foreign revenue earnings — have been cut.
The most shameful thing about the attacks on Bali — apart from the scale of horror and destruction meted out by the mysterious terrorists — is the way in which the governments of the West as well as the ASEAN region have used it to turn the tables against Jakarta. While it cannot be denied that militant and extremist groups do indeed exist in Indonesia (the Lashkar Jihad, Fron Pembela Islam and Barisan Mujahidin Indonesia come to mind), few western governments were as vocal in their condemnation of the human rights abuses carried out against the people of Indonesia during the Suharto era. In fact, the very same governments that are harrying the beleaguered leaders of Indonesia today — America and Australia — were among the closest tacit supporters of the Suharto regime from the mid-1960s to 1998.
If America, Britain and Australia are so concerned about the excessive violence and the culture of terror that exists in Indonesia today, one has to ask the obvious question: Why did they not speak out when human rights abuses were taking place in places like East Timor, Aceh and Irian in the past? And if they are so concerned about the culture of violence that has become commonplace in the country now, why did they lend their own support and military assistance to the leaders of the armed forces and covert operations units in that country for so long?
The answer, as usual, lies in the vagaries and vicissitudes of realpolitik. The developed nations of the West have often used human rights and fundamental liberties as bargaining chips in international diplomacy, citing “security concerns” and/or “investor confidence” as the main reasons why these issues are put on the table. But the diplomatic records of the US, Britain and Australia clearly show that the governments of these countries (regardless of who is in power and which party rules) have always put their own economic, political and strategic interests before all else. This is why the record of the western states in promoting human rights the world over is so unbalanced and inconsistent. The same US government which today chides Jakarta for not doing enough to curb the activities of militant and extremist groups has said precious little about the abuses of human rights and routinised use of violence by its own allied client states like Israel.
Now that Indonesia has been drawn into the web of the “war against terror”, the political elites of the country are bound to come under pressure to toe the line and dance according to Washington’s tune. Already Indonesia’s President Megawati Sukarnoputri has been put under tremendous pressure to accept Western assistance and advice — something which reminds us of the bad old days when the British empire used to appoint “Resident-Advisors” as part of its effort to extend and expand its sphere of indirect colonial rule. With the flood of such “security experts” and “advisors” one wonders how long the government can maintain the façade of independent rule and sovereignty.
As in the case of Pakistan, whose leadership seems to be losing the battle for hearts and minds on an hourly basis, the governments of Indonesia and the other ASEAN countries are fighting an uphill battle to maintain their grip on both the state and society. Indirect intervention and “assistance” on the part of the US and its powerful Western allies will do little to boost the credibility and standing of the leaders of Asia, and no doubt this gulf of credibility and authority can only expand as US intervention into the region increases.
We may never know who was really responsible for the horrific bombings in Bali that claimed so many innocent lives. Already the public has been overwhelmed by a tidal wave of senseless and incoherent information (or disinformation, depending on one’s point of view), and sentiments have overtaken the redoubt of reason and common sense. In the midst of the furore that followed, few media commentators, academic experts or politicians have cared to ask how and why such acts can take place at all. Neither have the root causes of terrorism, which are to be found in the structural, economic and political inequalities of the world today, been discussed.
However one thing is for sure. Cynicism aside, the governments of the West have been the quickest to pounce on the tragedy in Bali and it is they who have managed to turn the tables against the governments of Indonesia and ASEAN to their benefit. Just how this so-called “war against terror” will proceed and how great the human costs of this conflict will be remains an open question at this stage. But the deaths of so many innocent tourists in Bali this weekend have certainly been instrumentalised as never before.
Dr Farish A Noor is a Malaysian political scientist and human rights activist. He is also a member of the International Movement for a JUST world (www.just-international.org), a Malaysian NGO which campaigns for global justice in the international political order
