TODAY
05 May 2016
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- How Serious is the Threat of IS to Southeast Asia?
How Serious is the Threat of IS to Southeast Asia?
Appearing before a United States Congressional Subcommittee on Counter Terrorism and Intelligence on April 27, 2016, I delivered an assessment of the Islamic State (IS) threat in South-east Asia.
I began with the observation that terrorism is not a new phenomenon to the region, but goes as far back as the era of anti-colonial struggle. It gathered pace after 9/11, with a series of attacks perpetrated mostly by Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).
Against this backdrop, the recent IS-inspired attacks in Jakarta and the southern Philippines serve as a timely reminder of the threat terrorism continues to pose to South-east Asian societies.
… Joseph CY Liow is Dean of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University and currently Lee Kuan Yew chair in Southeast Asian Studies at Brookings Institute, Washington DC. This piece first appeared in RSIS Commentary.
RSIS / Online / Print
Last updated on 05/05/2016
