Analyzes the increasing Talibanization of Southeast Asia, which involves the adoption of Islamist doctrines, ideologies, and values that are largely militant in character and that sometimes include the adoption of violence to achieve their goals.
Bilveer Singh is Associate Professor of Political Science at the National University of Singapore. A former Fulbright Scholar, he is the author of nine books, including Succession Politics in Indonesia: The 1998 Presidential Elections and the Fall of Suharto (2000), and Politics and Government in Singapore: An Introduction (2007).
Singh writes a detailed and carefully defined analysis of the
growth of Islamic extremism in Southeast Asia. Professor Singh is
conscientious about defining the Islamic terms that he uses, noting
their multiple meanings; however, he does not box himself in with
overly narrow definitions. The book is organized into a
well-written introduction; four chapters outlining the history of
religious extremism and terrorism in Southeast Asia (principally
Indonesia), the growth of transnational terrorist organizations,
and the problems of counterterrorism policy in Southeast Asia; and
a conclusion outlining policy suggestions for the governments of
the region. Professor Singh's detailed knowledge of Islamic
movements in Southeast Asia, and particularly Al-Jama'ah
al-Islamiyyah, makes the book an interesting read complete with
organizational charts and graphs of terrorist organizations and
their global links…..Recommended. Research and professional
collections.
*Choice*
Singh sees kinship as being a vital element in the makeup of
al-Jamaat al-Islamiyah--the organization responsible for the Bali
nightclub bombings in October 2002. The people who form terror
groups have to know and trust one another. In most Muslim societies
it is kinship, rather than shared ideological values, that
generates relations of trust.
*The New York Review of Books*
The merit of this book lies in the way in which it combines an
analysis of the ideology of terror with a study of the methodology
of terror.
*The Strait Times*
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