Tsunami devastation could breed terrorism
?
4 January , 2005 18:22:23
Reporter: David Mark
This is a transcript from PM. The program is broadcast around
Australia at 5:10pm on Radio National and 6:10pm on ABC Local
Radio.
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That question is being posed today in light of comments made by the
US Secretary of State, Colin Powell.
Mr Powell has drawn a very direct link between the provision of aid
for the tsunami affected countries, and the need to combat
terrorism.
As David Mark reports.
DAVID MARK: Colin Powell's comments come as Australia's Prime
Minister, John Howard, prepares to unveil a aid package for the
region worth several hundred million dollars.
And while the Prime Minister has never drawn an explicit link
between aid and security, military analyst with the Australian
Strategic Defence Institute, Aldo Borgu, believes the connection is
there.
ALDO BORGU: Look, I'm sure it would be a factor, but obviously it's
not going to be stated, because people obviously want to emphasise
the humanitarian nature of it and people don't want to think that
Australia is acting in a self-interested way, which obviously it is
all countries are in that respect. I mean that's the whole basis
of our aid policy. But there is no doubt that one of our rationales
is to ensure that this does not become a breeding ground for
extremists in our region.
DAVID MARK: How could it become a breeding ground?
ALDO BORGU: Well certainly the terrorists or the extremists would
exploit the fact that if aid wasn't coming through, you know,
proving the point that the West doesn't care, it's trying to
exploit Muslim people, it's trying to keep them poor,
disadvantaged. This goes to the sort of so-called root causes of
terrorism and extremism, not least that people have got nowhere
left to go, when you've got poor, disadvantaged youth, who get
attracted basically to something that they can believe in,
something they're attracted to, which is Islamic extremism.
DAVID MARK: But the Director of Terrorism Studies at the Strategic
and Defence Studies Centre at the ANU, Clive Williams, doesn't
believe that terrorist recruits are driven by the so-called root
causes outlined by Colin Powell such as poverty or disease.
CLIVE WILLIAMS: I don't really think that's what drives most people
that are involved in insurgencies or terrorism; it's usually
factors like discrimination, their inability to create political
change in the societies in which they live.
If you look at the groups in the region of course the most radical
group is Jemaah Islamiah and they recruit people through a very
small number of religious schools in Indonesia. I don't think their
situation will change much. I don't think people will become more
religious necessarily as a result of what has happened or be
perhaps driven to join that group.
DAVID MARK: But Aldo Borgu does believe Jemaah Islamiah could
exploit the situation, particularly in Aceh where more than 90,000
people have died and a million people have been displaced.
ALDO BORGU: It's the area of chief concern, not least because
groups like JI can use that to motivate people from other parts of
Indonesia. So you can actually say, 'Look you know the Westerners,
the Christians don't really care about us, they're trying to keep
Muslims in poverty.' So they can use that as a rallying cry for
Indonesians across Indonesia.
TANYA NOLAN: Military analyst with the Australian Strategic Defence
Institute, Aldo Borgu.
