Help Azale with his terrorism paper
- Thread starter Azale
- Start date
Aren't they considered to be "affiliated" - nudge-nudge, wink-wink - with Al-Qaeda though? His essay question specifically exempted those organisations.
Not really. The story of Darul Islam really begins with the formation by the Japanese of Hizbullah as a dedicated Islamic militia. The purpose of the organisation was two-fold: (1) to screw with the secular-nationalist militias already in existence and (2) to try and harness political Islam as a vehicle to further the war effort and generally stymie an allied invasion. Hizbullah was initially happy to cooperate with the Republic in the struggle for independence. However like most of the militias running around it opted to maintain an entirely separate structure. This was not of itself something to worry about.
When the Dutch began to return Hizbullah adopted a stance that was firmly against negotiations with the Dutch. This wasn't unique the nationalist-communists under Tan Malaka did much the same thing. But whereas the latter was content to use the police actions as a lever to try and remove Sukarno-Hatto the former was just content to kill as many Netherlands as they could and to generally build up its networks in its stronghold in West Java. This proved to be a winning strategy especially when the Dutch rather blatantly broke its own agreement and invaded the Republic in the First Police Action. Hizbullah gained a substantial amount of prestige from being the only party still standing that had criticised negotiations.
Fortunately, most of its territory was now on the Dutch side of the van Mook line. This cut it off from political developments inside the Republic and forced it to retrench back into its strongholds to escape being liquidated in the innumerable Dutch mopping up actions going on at the time. In time it reconstituted and began to become a very efficient guerrilla force effectively taking control of about half of West Java. The Dutch stretched to the limit effectively acquiesced to this rationalising that at least Hizbullah wasn't talking to the Republic much... and that it could be cleaned up at a latter date.
Good thought; didn't happen. When the Dutch launched the Second Police Action which saw the civilian government arrested and the last bastions of the Republic reduced Darul Islam lost some of its exclusive hold over West Java when Republican guerrillas began to infiltrate back into West Java in strength. The Siliwangi division under ma' boi Nasution was particularly aggressive towards Darul Islam and as a result of this it managed to oust Darul Islam from much of West Java. The movement got a reprieve when Nasution was forced to engage the Dutch in a series of battles which he got the better off. Afterwards he moved out and Darul Islam made a come-back retaking many of it territories.
This time around however it had hardened its stance towards the Republic substantially from annoyance to outright hostility. In the chaos of the Dutch withdrawal and the collapse of the Dutch created United States of Indonesia Darul Islam took the time to build up once more attaining probably its height during this period. Ultimately, the Republic resolved many of its problems and pressure was again applied to the movement. But it wasn't sufficient and the strategies employed were inadequate to the task of winning against a popular insurgency. (By this time Nasution who had the willpower and the strategies to nearly win the first time around had been removed from office).
This didn't really improve during the Liberal Democracy period where separatist movements all over the archipelago were allowed to slide. It was hard enough keeping a cabinet together let alone resolve complex ethno-religious concerns. When 'Guided Democracy' came into vogue after 1957 the government stabilised sufficiently to actually begin trying to resolve the substantial backlog of disasters it had brewing. Darul Islam was one of these and Nasution now restored to office began to systematically destroy the movement. In this he was successful and the shadow government that had hitherto held large areas under its control collapsed.
With this resolved he now had to contend with a large scale guerrilla war which had in the meantime expanded to encompass other theatres like Aceh in 1953 and South Sulawesi in 1951. The whole thing was more symbolic than anything but it was posed a semi-credible threat to a fairly large part of Indonesia even if it was unlikely to actually overthrow the government. I won't go into the specifics of Aceh or South Sulawesi suffice to say that it wasn't strictly religion that motivated either of those parties. It had far more to do with the lack of recognition of past services in the struggle against the Dutch that both parties got. (The Acehnese did get snubbed something terrible).
I'll treat these as separate movements. Aceh got sorted out through accommodation backed up by the threat of military force. The hardcore guys who remained in the bush couldn't do all that much and everyone ignored them. South Sulawesi required an all-out invasion (Suharto was involved in it) which was then leavened with further concessions. The situation outside of West Java was pretty quiet although it was by no peaceful.
The West Java situation was basically wrapped up through a decidedly boring strategy of separating the guerrillas from the populace. It took a long time and is really more reflective of the parlous state of Indonesian domestic politics than anything the army did. But the struggle was all but dead then anyway. The interesting thing about Darul Islam is how it as an Islamic (predominately Sufi(!)) movement has influenced groups like Jemaah Islamiyah. I don't quite get it. But I'm sure someone does. Its also something of a compelling narrative and the principle leader Kartosuwirjo is kinda awesome.
I just typed that from memory. I'm starting to scare myself..
When the Dutch began to return Hizbullah adopted a stance that was firmly against negotiations with the Dutch. This wasn't unique the nationalist-communists under Tan Malaka did much the same thing. But whereas the latter was content to use the police actions as a lever to try and remove Sukarno-Hatto the former was just content to kill as many Netherlands as they could and to generally build up its networks in its stronghold in West Java. This proved to be a winning strategy especially when the Dutch rather blatantly broke its own agreement and invaded the Republic in the First Police Action. Hizbullah gained a substantial amount of prestige from being the only party still standing that had criticised negotiations.
Fortunately, most of its territory was now on the Dutch side of the van Mook line. This cut it off from political developments inside the Republic and forced it to retrench back into its strongholds to escape being liquidated in the innumerable Dutch mopping up actions going on at the time. In time it reconstituted and began to become a very efficient guerrilla force effectively taking control of about half of West Java. The Dutch stretched to the limit effectively acquiesced to this rationalising that at least Hizbullah wasn't talking to the Republic much... and that it could be cleaned up at a latter date.
Good thought; didn't happen. When the Dutch launched the Second Police Action which saw the civilian government arrested and the last bastions of the Republic reduced Darul Islam lost some of its exclusive hold over West Java when Republican guerrillas began to infiltrate back into West Java in strength. The Siliwangi division under ma' boi Nasution was particularly aggressive towards Darul Islam and as a result of this it managed to oust Darul Islam from much of West Java. The movement got a reprieve when Nasution was forced to engage the Dutch in a series of battles which he got the better off. Afterwards he moved out and Darul Islam made a come-back retaking many of it territories.
This time around however it had hardened its stance towards the Republic substantially from annoyance to outright hostility. In the chaos of the Dutch withdrawal and the collapse of the Dutch created United States of Indonesia Darul Islam took the time to build up once more attaining probably its height during this period. Ultimately, the Republic resolved many of its problems and pressure was again applied to the movement. But it wasn't sufficient and the strategies employed were inadequate to the task of winning against a popular insurgency. (By this time Nasution who had the willpower and the strategies to nearly win the first time around had been removed from office).
This didn't really improve during the Liberal Democracy period where separatist movements all over the archipelago were allowed to slide. It was hard enough keeping a cabinet together let alone resolve complex ethno-religious concerns. When 'Guided Democracy' came into vogue after 1957 the government stabilised sufficiently to actually begin trying to resolve the substantial backlog of disasters it had brewing. Darul Islam was one of these and Nasution now restored to office began to systematically destroy the movement. In this he was successful and the shadow government that had hitherto held large areas under its control collapsed.
With this resolved he now had to contend with a large scale guerrilla war which had in the meantime expanded to encompass other theatres like Aceh in 1953 and South Sulawesi in 1951. The whole thing was more symbolic than anything but it was posed a semi-credible threat to a fairly large part of Indonesia even if it was unlikely to actually overthrow the government. I won't go into the specifics of Aceh or South Sulawesi suffice to say that it wasn't strictly religion that motivated either of those parties. It had far more to do with the lack of recognition of past services in the struggle against the Dutch that both parties got. (The Acehnese did get snubbed something terrible).
I'll treat these as separate movements. Aceh got sorted out through accommodation backed up by the threat of military force. The hardcore guys who remained in the bush couldn't do all that much and everyone ignored them. South Sulawesi required an all-out invasion (Suharto was involved in it) which was then leavened with further concessions. The situation outside of West Java was pretty quiet although it was by no peaceful.
The West Java situation was basically wrapped up through a decidedly boring strategy of separating the guerrillas from the populace. It took a long time and is really more reflective of the parlous state of Indonesian domestic politics than anything the army did. But the struggle was all but dead then anyway. The interesting thing about Darul Islam is how it as an Islamic (predominately Sufi(!)) movement has influenced groups like Jemaah Islamiyah. I don't quite get it. But I'm sure someone does. Its also something of a compelling narrative and the principle leader Kartosuwirjo is kinda awesome.
I just typed that from memory. I'm starting to scare myself..
Shekwan
Kim Chi Quaffing Celt
I would probably do the Tamil Tigers as they came up with suicide bombing, and are not Islamic Fundamentalists, which is interesting as most people put suicide bombing down to religious nutjobism.
Wasn´t - in spite of Suharto´s claims - a terrorist organization.
Same. Not sure if it´s wise to use the Suid Afrika definition of what constitutes terrorism (let alone valid).
Really? The organization that liberated South Vietnam from foreign occupation a terrorist organization? So terrorism basically is synonymous with anti-American organization using guns, not words? I think you need to start with a proper definition of terrorism first.
And BTW, Zionism in Israel made proper use of terrorism against the British, so they´re not unfamiliar with the practice.
Also interesting that terrorism proper started with the Syrian Assassin sect, who committed assassinations against the Crusader invaders.
Interesting that a Dutchman would go a few bridges too far here
Why not go all out and accuse Lord Baal, noted Australian, of blind American nationalism or of being a member of the Republican Party
ParkCungHee
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Everyone does the IRA. Screw that, do the UVF, or INLA or Finnean Brotherhood.
"One man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter."
By Nelson Mandela's own admission, they targeted civilians. Mandela qualifies for the American terror watchlist, for God's sake. Just because they were fighting an unjust government doesn't mean they weren't terrorists.
South Vietnam was never "occupied" by the US. That's bullcrap. America had a lot of troops there, but they were there at the behest of the local government. They could never have occupied the nation with so few troops without support. It was the collapse of support for this government, in fact, that allowed the Viet Cong such deep penetration into SV and turned public opinion against the US before American atrocities started. Believe it or not, Americans were actually quite popular in SV for a few years, particularly in Saigon.
Too bad one doesn't actually exist. Unless the UN or the Hague have made up their mind about that in the last fifteen minutes.
If I had to (loosely) define terrorism, just off the top of my head and from my admittedly subjective viewpoint, I'd call it striking at civilian targets in order to achieve a political or military objective. By that reasoning, the Oklahoma City Bombing was terrorism, as were IRA bombings, as were the bombings by the ANC in South Africa, as was the carpet bombing of Dresden by Allied forces in WWII. So were the American atrocities during the pacification of the Philippines after the Spanish-American War. So before you accuse me of being pro-American - which I'm not - perhaps you should visit your doctor and ask him to prescribe something for the foot-in-mouth disease you appear to have developed.
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But wait Dachs, it gets even better:
Here he apparently accuses Lord Baal, noted Australian of Palestinian descent, of being pro-Zionist.
Seriously JEELEN, why the hell did you bring that up? Just because my great-grandmother converted to Judaism doesn't mean I'm a Zionist, or approve of Zionist actions.
No, Masada, there is only the one "proper definition of terrorism." I'm actually very interested in finding out what it is.
wolfigor
Emperor
Terrorism may have many definition.
Violence of armed groups against innocent civilians aiming at the destabilization/destruction of a recognized country is a decent description for it.
In this view ANC is a great subject for the paper: a group that used both legitimate protest and some terrorism, that with time converted into a democratic party that rules a large country.
ParkCungHee
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I'd probably throw a "by non-state actors" in there.
There's such thing as state-sponsored/ sanctioned terrorism, but I probably should. Otherwise there are simply too many damn terrorists.
ParkCungHee
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States can sponsor non-state actors, but state sponsored terrorist organizations still are free to act mostly independently.
JEELEN said:
My earlier response was overly witty. The first point I would like to make is that there were three successive PKIs. The first was formed in 1924, rebelled in 1926 and was promptly crushed by the Dutch. At that time it was labelled a terrorist organisation. Most of its members (and many others) about 20,000 in all were arrested. About a quarter were put in prison, interned or exiled to a pleasant malarial infested hell-hole Digul in Irian Jaya. A number of the exiles subsequently died of the conditions. But whatever. The party itself was banned in 1927 by the Indies government.
It was forced underground with newish leadership and is accordingly seen to be a second incarnation of the PKI. It built up its strength during the inter-war years mostly through the unions it controlled. During the war it fought rather effectively against the Japanese. This caused it to be again listed a terrorist group. By the time the war ended it had built up a strong following amongst parts of the populace and the various quasi-military groups left over from the Japanese.
It was only moderately successful until Musso, its leader-in-exile, returned in 1948. He managed to cobble together a leftist alliance and tried unsuccessfully to use that as a wedge to get himself into power. This failed, rather miserably. Sukarno and Hatt then began to disband his power-base from under him screwing up his immediate plans to overthrow the government. He resolved to just sit and wait and rebuild.
Unfortunately, for him, a bunch of his mid level cadres in Madiun didn't like that approach and decided to run with the original, already spoiled, coup plan. Musso tried to appeal for calm and that seemed to work for a while at least. Then thinking everything was going to hell anyway he decided to throw in his lot with the coup attempt. It failed, miserably.
In the aftermath it became clear just what the PKI had intended to do in Indonesia when the bodies of thousands of public servants, political party members, ulema, shop-owners, landowners and just about every non-communist notable in the city and surrounding area were found with bullet shaped holes in the back of their heads. That was terrorism plain and simple as most of it had occurred before the Republic could respond in force and just before the final defeat.
The PKI at this point ceased to exist for the second time. It was reconstituted in 1949 rather secretly and was allowed to build up strength again because it was willing to prostitute itself to Sukarno. Democracy, bah. Guided Democracy is where its at! Its power would peak in 1964-65 when it began serious attempts to force the land reform issue that had been simmering since independence.
It lacked viable targets for the most part because the nobility where it was strong weren't all that wealthy and didn't hold that much land. It consequently was forced to look for easier targets and its eyes settled on the moderately wealthy, ulema and government officials. Both were the target of killings, beatings and general nastiness by the party designed to get them to hand over their rather meagre amounts of additional land.
Basically, it overplayed its hand and got overly violent and had to be called off. It also had nothing much to show for what it had done either which helped. It then fixated itself on trying to buttress its own power by attacking the army. The basic idea was to run a smear campaign alleging that a 'Generals Council' was planning to overthrow the government. It then used mass rallies and various other means to press the issue. This worked and the military spooked and lowered its profile.
The PKI didn't stop however. It pushed further and proposed to create a new military force drawing on the peasantry. This didn't go down well with the army. But that was fine it drummed up still more anti-generals fervour. We don't know exactly what happened on the morning of September 30 1965. Its likely that some mid-level cadres again, like in 1949, acted at the wrong time. Whatever the case units affiliated to the PKI tried to knock out the army hierarchy in anticipation of a fictional army coup of their own creation.
It failed miserably and Suharto managed to take command leading a rather effective counterstroke against a distracted and frankly confused PKI. Unfortunately, the PKI looked like it had abducted the President and wasn't in the mood for negotiations. It had also assembled before the coup a relatively large force of pro-PKI marines and cadres at a Halim air-force base. Quite why, we don't know. It is possible that they were there for the purposes of a later coup. Certainly, documents taken from the PKI offices in Jakarta support that conclusion. But it isn't certain.
Basically, the PKI got annihilated as political force by the civilians it had managed to piss off in the earlier land reform drive. The military was distracted with rounding up the big names and wasn't all together interested in settling the personal grievances of the villages of East Java. It was kinda messy. But not altogether unprecedented or unprovoked. It was prescribed in 1966 and its members were listed as terrorists.
Zardnaar
Deity
ETA the Basques one. Could be interesting.
Terrorism (my definition)
Striking at civilian targets in order to achieve a political or military objective by non government forces.
Terrorism (my definition)
Striking at civilian targets in order to achieve a political or military objective by non government forces.
