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September 11 & Political Freedom |
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The September 11 and Political Freedom: Asian Perspectives focuses on political developments in the region following 9/11. In this new volume, arising from a conference of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats on globalisation, thinkers and observers of the region review the impact of 9/11 on the development of democracy and freedom in Asia. Collectively, these 11 essays reflect the 'after-shocks' being felt in the Asian region from the 9/11 attack.
Some extracts from the book:
To fight terrorism means not to allow it to be successful. The strange logic of terror is that if the US does retaliate by bombing some countries on its list, innocent lives will again be lost. In the eyes of many, it will be considered another incident of terror. - Chaiwat Satha Anand
The root cause of violence may be found in the alienation, dualism, and antagonism generated by systemic marginalisation of vast segments of the world population... We must establish a more democratic and just global governance. We must pledge to a new rule of international law. No nation, large or small, should be exempted from the rule of international law. Unilateralism is not a legitimate answer to global problems. - Majid Tehranian
Civil society in a number of Southeast Asian countries has been arguing for a paradigm shift in managing the affairs of the state and society, from an obsession with state security to a greater understanding of and focus on human society... The September 11 terrorist attack, which has unwittingly drawn in Southeast Asia, will complicate and frustrate the efforts towards that paradigm shift. - Hadi Soesastro
Whether Asian governments choose to adopt a more multilateral approach... or whether, they continue to rely more on Washington-centric bilateral engagement while the US descends into the depths of dark isolationism, in order to address the global problem of terrorism, will determine not only their success in fighting terrorism over the longer term, but also, how they are viewed by the rest of the international community. - Lyal Sunga
What September 11 has demonstrated is that even while the information we have about another and ourselves has increased exponentially in recent years, our mutual comprehension of one another and ourselves may well have grossly deteriorated in quality. - Subroto Roy
9/11 as reviewed by some of Asia's leading commentators.
CONTENTS
Notes on Contributors
Acknowledgements
Introduction September 11 and Political Freedom: Asian Perspectives by James Gomez and Alan Smith
CHaptER 1 : GLOBALISATION POST 9/11 CHALLENGES FOR LIBERALS by Kevin Hewison
CHaptER 2 : MITIGATING THE SUCCESS OF TERRORISM WITH THE POLITICS OF TRUTH AND JUSTICE by Chaiwat Satha-Anand
CHaptER 3 : THE CENTER CANNOT HOLD: TERRORISM AND GLOBAL CHANGE by Majid Tehranian
CHaptER 4 : GLOBAL TERRORISM: IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND HUMAN SECURITY by Hadi Soesastro
CHaptER 5 : THE NEW TERRORISM: HOW SOUTHEAST ASIA CAN COUNTER IT by Andre Tan
CHaptER 6 : The us foreign policy of praetorian unilateralism and the implications for southeast asia by Kumar Ramakrishna
CHaptER 7 : SOUTHEAST ASIA AND THE WAR AGAINST TERRORISM: THE RISE OF ISLAMISM AND THE CHALLENGE TO THE SURVEILLANCE STATE by David Martin Jones & Mike Lawrence Smith
CHaptER 8 : pROBLEM INHERENT AT SOURCE: THE COMMUNICATION MEDIA IN POST 9/11 SOUTHEAST ASIA by Jonathan Woodier
CHaptER 9 : 9/11 anti-terrorist measures and their impact on human rights in asia by Sinapan Samydorai
CHaptER 10 : US ANTI-TERRORISM POLICY AND ASIA'S OPTIONS by Lyal Sunga
CHaptER 11 : TOWARDS A GENERAL THEORY OF GLOBALISATION AND TERRORISM by Subroto Roy
September 11 sees civil liberties curtailed in Asia: book Agence
France Presse "It may be too early to draw conclusions about the real impact of September 11 on Asia, but rather there is an awareness of a discernible chain of reactions or aftershocks," the editors say in their introduction. September 11 and Political Freedom: Asian Perspectives is a collection of essays by academics on the "aftershocks" in the region since hijacked aircraft ploughed into US symbols of capitalist and military might a year ago. Various chapters examine the inter-woven links between globalisation, poverty and terrorism, criticise the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN) shortcomings, and analyse Asian political reactions. The book refers to increases "in rights abuses" such as discrimination, detention without trial, increased surveillance and invasion of privacy. "The authors are articulating the rhetoric coming out of the region," said Southeast Asian political science researcher James Gomez, who co-edited the book with Uwe Johannen and Alan Smith of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation. Critics of the poverty theory have pointed to the millionaire status of Osama bin Laden, seen as the mastermind and financier of the September 11 attacks. "But where the rise of militant Islam is concerned, for this area poverty is a real issue," Gomez told AFP Friday ahead of the book launch in Singapore. In the collection of 11 essays there is emphasis that Southeast Asia has been singled out as a region conducive for Islamic militant networks to resettle in the wake of the US-led war on terrorism. "The 'under siege' atmosphere was used to justify several arrests and raids on so-called Islamic militants in the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore. "Indonesian authorities resisted for fear of the domestic political repercussions". The prospect of a rise of militant Islam in Asia in the long term "is of grave concern for the region's security but its further development and likely impact can still only be guessed at," the editors say. "More immediately, the essays... collectively suggest that the security-oriented responses of governments in the region may impede and slow the emergence of the free and dynamic civil society needed for a healthy democracy." Sinapan Samydorai, president of the Think Centre in Singapore, in a chapter on human rights abuses, argues for an agreed definition of terrorism. Without an agreement "it is likely that human rights abuses in the region will flourish," he said, noting an increase in discrimination, detention without trial, increased surveillance and invasion of privacy since September Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Myanmar continued to detain people without trial, while the Philippines, Indonesia and Hong Kong have introduced or are drafting anti-terrorism laws with vague definitions of terrorism that open the possibility to criminalise peace campaign activities, Samydorai said. ASEAN is accused of showing the same ineffectual response to September 11 as it did to the Asian financial crisis five years, in an essay by David Martin Jones, a senior lecturer at the University of Tasmania, and Michael Smith, a lecturer at the University of London. In a chapter on surveillance in the region they say Asian intelligence services did not detect links between regional Islamic militant groups and al-Qaeda because it was not on the agenda of concern to the ASEAN leaders. They conclude: "ASEAN is substantially a facade, reflecting a romantic vision of a handful of academics and peripatetic regional conference circuit speakers without either popular roots or strong state backing." On globalisation, the editors say its failure to eliminate global inequalities "has helped unleash a vicious reaction." They said the security-oriented, military-based response from the United States that has found favour with many governments in Asia risks "exacerbating the problems that are seen as causing terrorism."
Published and distributed in Singapore in 2003. By Select Publishing Pte, Ltd. In association with Friedrich Naumann Foundation National Library Board (Singapore) Cataloguing in Publication Data September 11 & political freedom: Asian Perspectives / edited by Uwe Johannen, Alan Smith, James Gomez. ISBN 981-4022-24-1 To order, please go to the select books website: www.selectbooks.com.sg |
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