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Jihadists Assemble: the Rise of Militant Islamism in Southeast Asia

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Jihadists Assemble: the Rise of Militant Islamism in Southeast Asia JIHADISTS ASSEMBLE: THE RISE OF MILITANT ISLAMISM IN SOUTHEAST ASIA Quinton Temby A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the Australian National University Department of Political & Social Change Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs College of Asia & the Pacific Australian National University © Copyright Quinton Temby All Rights Reserved July 2017 I certify that this dissertation is my own original work. To the best of my knowledge, it contains no material that has been accepted for the award of a degree or diploma in any university and contains no material previously published by another person, except where due reference is made in the text of the dissertation. Quinton Temby ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The preparation of this thesis has left me indebted to many people. It would not have been possible at all without the generous support of my primary supervisor, Associate Professor Greg Fealy, who encouraged my curiosity for this topic from the outset and who expertly guided and challenged me throughout the long process of research and writing. On my supervisory panel, I was privileged to have Professor Ed Aspinall and Professor Robert Cribb, whose critical feedback and scholarly example has been an object lesson. For help and guidance in ways impossible to count or measure, much less repay, I am grateful to Sidney Jones. In both Canberra and Jakarta, I enjoyed the support of Associate Professor Marcus Mietzner. For persistently challenging me to think regionally, I owe much of the vision of this thesis to Dr Kit Collier. In Indonesia, above all I would like to thank Sita W. Dewi. I am grateful for the generous Australian Government Endeavour Award, which supported the fieldwork for this thesis. For their support during my fieldwork research in Indonesia, my greatest thanks to Dr Jajat Burhanudin and Dr Ismatu Ropi of the Centre for the Study of Islam and Society (PPIM) at Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta. My thanks are also due to Solahudin, Sally Neighbour, Jason Tedjasukmana, Ahmad Muhajir, Hanum Tyagita, Nasir Abas, Taufik Andrie, Professor Kamarulnizam bin Abdullah, and Raby Bakar. Professor Martin van Bruinessen, who took an early interest in my research, was supportive throughout. Ken Ward shared his expertise and rigorous commentary without stint. Members of the Kartosoewirjo family were selfless hosts in West Java. Susan Temby, Dr Paul Kenny, and Professor Michael Watts each gave invaluable assistance. Thanks also to the cartographers at the College of Asia and the Pacific’s CartoGIS for assistance with the map of the region. Many thanks to both Helen McMartin and Maxine McArthur of the ANU’s Department of Political and Social Change. I am especially grateful to Maxine for her editorial assistance and help in preparing this thesis for printing at record speed. I am indebted to my department, Political and Social Change, not just for funding a fieldwork stint that helped to extend the horizons of this research, but also for being my academic “family” in Canberra over so many years. It would be impossible to mention all the friends and colleagues in Jakarta, Canberra, and elsewhere who formed such a vibrant intellectual assemblage during the course of this iii research: Haroro Ingram, Igor O’Neill, Bryony Lau, Cillian Nolan, Jacqui Baker, Chiara Formichi, Dominic Berger, Colum Graham, Eve Warburton, Thomas Power, Liam Gammon, Ross Tapsell, Bayu Dardias, Usman Hamid, Pyone Myat Thu, Nick Cheesman, Mohamed Nawab Osman. Thanks to my senior colleagues in Perth who supported me in the crucial final stages of writing, notably Professor Rikki Kersten, Associate Professor Carol Warren, Professor David Hill and Associate Professor David Bourchier. Finally, this thesis could not have been completed without the unyielding support of both my mother and father, Merrilyn and Toll. iv ABSTRACT Following the attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States and the Bali bombings in Indonesia the following year, Southeast Asia came under scrutiny for its role in the rise of militant Islamism. Generally, scholarship on militant Islamism in Southeast Asia branched into two approaches: terrorism experts tended to see the problem through the prism of al- Qaeda, with Southeast Asian jihadists following orders from their leaders outside the region; Indonesia specialists, meanwhile, countered this al-Qaeda-centric approach by emphasising the local Indonesian factors driving Southeast Asian jihadism. In this thesis, by contrast, I focus on the regional scale. I find that Southeast Asia, for a time, emerged as one of the most important places in the world for the mobilization of global jihadist attacks against the West due to a historical and geographical process unique to the region. Drawing on the emerging field of assemblage theory, I argue that over time a regional jihadist assemblage formed in Southeast Asia—a cross-border constellation of networks, groups, and material elements—and that it was the mobilization opportunities presented by this assemblage that made Southeast Asia so attractive to global jihadists. Analysing a wealth of original interview and documentary material, I trace the gradual development of this regional assemblage over time and space, from its origins in the cycles of conflict between jihadists and the state in Indonesia in the late 1940s to the crucial role played by Southeast Asians in the attacks of 9/11. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................... v TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................................... vi GLOSSARY ........................................................................................................................... vii ILLUSTRATIONS ................................................................................................................... ix MAP ........................................................................................................................................... x INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 1 2 ORIGINS .............................................................................................................................. 24 3 REVIVAL & REPRESSION ................................................................................................ 55 4 DETERRITORIALIZATION ............................................................................................... 99 5 NEXUS ............................................................................................................................... 126 6 REGIONAL ASSEMBLAGE ............................................................................................ 154 7 REGIONAL JIHAD ............................................................................................................ 187 8 TRANSLOCAL JIHAD...................................................................................................... 227 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................... 245 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................. 252 vi GLOSSARY Abu Sayyaf Group Moro nationalist and jihadist group formed in 1991, based in the Sulu Archipelago, Southern Philippines al-Qaeda The Base; transnational jihadist organisation formed by Osama bin Laden in 1988 amir (emir) chief or leader of an Islamic group assemblage heterogeneous and temporarily stable formation of various phenomena (actors, institutions, materials) bai’at oath of loyalty bid’ah heretical innovation dakwah (da’wah) proselytization, Islamic outreach Darul Islam Abode of Islam; Indonesia-based movement for an Islamic state DDII Dewan Dakwah Islamiyah Indonesia (Indonesian Islamic Propagation Council) fardu ‘ayn a category of religious duty that must be performed by every Muslim fatwa formal opinion given by an Islamic scholar GUPPI Gabungan Usaha Perbaikan Pendidikan Islam (Islamic Education Advancement League) Hadith Report or account of the words and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad transmitted through a chain of narrators hijrah literally “flight”; the migration of the Prophet from Mecca to Medina. Connotes temporary strategic withdrawal i’dad preparation; term used by jihadists to refer to military training imam leader of Muslim community or congregation jahiliyya “age of ignorance”; Arabic term referring to the pre-Islamic period jama’ah community, congregation Jemaah Salafi a group founded in the late 1990s in Southern Thailand by Muhammad Haji Jaeming JI Jemaah Islamiyah (Islamic Community); a transnational offshoot of Darul Islam, founded in Malaysia in 1993 vii kafir non-believer (in Islam) KMM Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia (Malaysian Mujahidin Group); a group formed in 1996 by Malaysian veterans of Afghanistan-Pakistan. Kopkamtib Komando Pemulihan Keamanan dan Ketertiban (Command for the Restoration of Security and Order). MILF Moro Islamic Liberation Front; formed in 1978 in the Southern Philippines mujahidin holy warriors; those who engage in jihad New Order Suharto regime in Indonesia (1966-1998) NII Negara Islam Indonesia (Islamic State of Indonesia);
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