AUTOCATALYTIC MODELS OF COUNTER-TERRORISM IN EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIA: AN INTERNATIONAL COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF CHINA, INDONESIA, AND THAILAND

This Article argues that counter-terrorism policies and formal law in many states in the East and Southeast Asian region are feeding the current spike in terror activity rather than reducing it. Regional government’s unrelated policy objectives and failure to implement or comply with norms conducive to fair treatment of “at risk” communities and their failure to adopt a prospective approach to countering terrorism is making the problem worse. This Article employs a comparative methodology of key states in the region, including China and its marginalization and forcible assimilation of minority Uighur populations; Indonesia and its radicalized majority population under a sympathetic or tolerant leadership; and Thailand, a country locked in internal strife with domestic elements seeking self-determination. It will first discuss contemporary models of counter-terrorism, then detail relevant measures adopted in the subject states followed by an analysis concluding that, though differing in specific initiatives, these states share a functional commonality motivated by objectives unrelated to counter terrorism leading to a resultant commonality of increased terror activity. Moreover, these arguments are equally relevant to other countries in the region such as the Philippines and Malaysia.