"Constructing" the Jemmaah Islamiyah terrorist : a preliminary inquiry

Coming on the heels of the October 2002 Bali and August 2003 Jakarta Marriott bombings, the recent Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) attack on the Australian embassy in Jakarta demonstrates very clearly that the terror network, despite its numbers having been decimated by counter-terror action by regional gover...

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Main Author: Kumar Ramakrishna
Other Authors: S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Format: Working Paper
Published: 2009
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/90552
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/4471
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-905522024-01-22T06:34:07Z "Constructing" the Jemmaah Islamiyah terrorist : a preliminary inquiry Kumar Ramakrishna S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies DRNTU::Humanities::Religions::Islam Coming on the heels of the October 2002 Bali and August 2003 Jakarta Marriott bombings, the recent Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) attack on the Australian embassy in Jakarta demonstrates very clearly that the terror network, despite its numbers having been decimated by counter-terror action by regional governments, retains the capacity to mount significant terrorist atrocities. What is extremely significant is that while the embassy attack bore the imprint of senior JI bomb-maker Azahari Husin, he evidently had the assistance and support of new recruits. This suggests that the JI organization is regenerating itself. Ultimately, counter-terrorism success depends on the ability of regional governments to prevent terrorist organizations from regenerating. This paper seeks to unearth the dynamics driving the JI regeneration process. It attempts to interrogate the complex processes by which ordinary young Muslim men are transformed into indoctrinated JI militants. It shows that the intersection of four broad factors are especially important in the creation of new cohorts of indoctrinated JI: the radical Islamist ideology of Qaedaism; the historical, political and socio-cultural backdrop of Southeast Asia and especially Indonesia: the individual make-up of JI terrorists; and the "ingroup space" within which individual terrorists aer enmeshed. In doing so this paper sheds much-needed light on the burning question of why Western-educated, seemingly modern individual like Azahari Husin can be transformed into extreme fundamentalist fanatics capable of committing mass murder in the name of religion. 2009-02-05T09:33:07Z 2019-12-06T17:49:42Z 2009-02-05T09:33:07Z 2019-12-06T17:49:42Z 2004 2004 Working Paper Kumar Ramakrishna. (2004). "Constructing" the Jemmaah Islamiyah terrorist : a preliminary inquiry. (RSIS Working Paper, No. 71). Singapore: Nanyang Technological University. https://hdl.handle.net/10356/90552 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/4471 RSIS Working Papers ; 071/04 Nanyang Technological University 62 p. application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
topic DRNTU::Humanities::Religions::Islam
spellingShingle DRNTU::Humanities::Religions::Islam
Kumar Ramakrishna
"Constructing" the Jemmaah Islamiyah terrorist : a preliminary inquiry
description Coming on the heels of the October 2002 Bali and August 2003 Jakarta Marriott bombings, the recent Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) attack on the Australian embassy in Jakarta demonstrates very clearly that the terror network, despite its numbers having been decimated by counter-terror action by regional governments, retains the capacity to mount significant terrorist atrocities. What is extremely significant is that while the embassy attack bore the imprint of senior JI bomb-maker Azahari Husin, he evidently had the assistance and support of new recruits. This suggests that the JI organization is regenerating itself. Ultimately, counter-terrorism success depends on the ability of regional governments to prevent terrorist organizations from regenerating. This paper seeks to unearth the dynamics driving the JI regeneration process. It attempts to interrogate the complex processes by which ordinary young Muslim men are transformed into indoctrinated JI militants. It shows that the intersection of four broad factors are especially important in the creation of new cohorts of indoctrinated JI: the radical Islamist ideology of Qaedaism; the historical, political and socio-cultural backdrop of Southeast Asia and especially Indonesia: the individual make-up of JI terrorists; and the "ingroup space" within which individual terrorists aer enmeshed. In doing so this paper sheds much-needed light on the burning question of why Western-educated, seemingly modern individual like Azahari Husin can be transformed into extreme fundamentalist fanatics capable of committing mass murder in the name of religion.
author2 S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
author_facet S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Kumar Ramakrishna
format Working Paper
author Kumar Ramakrishna
author_sort Kumar Ramakrishna
title "Constructing" the Jemmaah Islamiyah terrorist : a preliminary inquiry
title_short "Constructing" the Jemmaah Islamiyah terrorist : a preliminary inquiry
title_full "Constructing" the Jemmaah Islamiyah terrorist : a preliminary inquiry
title_fullStr "Constructing" the Jemmaah Islamiyah terrorist : a preliminary inquiry
title_full_unstemmed "Constructing" the Jemmaah Islamiyah terrorist : a preliminary inquiry
title_sort "constructing" the jemmaah islamiyah terrorist : a preliminary inquiry
publishDate 2009
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/90552
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/4471
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