Fareed Zakaria: The cancer of Islamist extremism spreads around the world
This week’s tragic
terrorist attack in New York was the kind of isolated incident by one troubled
man that should not lead to generalizations. In the 16 years since 9/11, the
city has proved astonishingly safe from jihadist groups and individuals. And
yet, speaking about it to officials in this major global hub 10,000 miles away,
the conclusions they reach are worrying. “The New York attack might be a way to
remind us all that while ISIS is being defeated militarily, the ideological
threat from radical Islam is spreading,” says Singaporean Home Minister K.
Shanmugam. “The trend line is moving in the wrong direction.”
The military battle
against Islamist extremist groups in places such as Syria and Afghanistan is a
tough struggle, but it has always been one that favored the United States and
its allies. After all, the combined military forces of some of the world’s most
powerful governments are up against a tiny band of guerrillas. On the other
hand, the ideological challenge from the Islamic State has proved far more
intractable. The terrorist group and ones like it have been able to spread
their ideas, recruit disaffected young men and women, and infiltrate countries
across the globe. Western countries remain susceptible to the occasional lone
wolf, but the new breeding grounds of radicalism are once-moderate Muslim
societies in Central, South and Southeast Asia.
Consider Indonesia,
the world’s most populous Muslim country, long seen as a moderate bulwark. This
year, the governor of Jakarta, the country’s capital and largest city, lost his
bid for reelection after he was painted by Muslim hard-liners as unfit for office
because he is Christian. Worse, he was then jailed after being convicted on a dubious and unfair blasphemy
charge. Amid a rising tide of Islamist politics, Indonesia’s “moderate”
president and its mainstream “moderate” Islamic organizations have failed to
stand up for the country’s traditions of tolerance and multiculturalism.
Or look at Bangladesh,
another country with a staunchly secular past, where nearly 150 million Muslims live. Founded as a
breakaway from Pakistan on explicitly nonreligious grounds, Bangladesh’s culture and
politics have become increasingly extreme over the past decade. Atheists,
secularists and intellectuals have been targeted and even killed, blasphemy laws have been enforced, and a spate
of terrorist attacks have left hundreds dead.
Why is this happening?
There are many explanations. Poverty, economic hardship and change produce
anxieties. “People are disgusted by the corruption and incompetence of
politicians. They are easily seduced by the idea that Islam is the answer, even
though they don’t know what that means,” a Singaporean politician explained to
me. And then, the local leaders make alliances with the clerics and give
platforms to the extremists, all in search of easy votes. That political
pandering has helped nurture a cancer of Islamist extremism. In Southeast Asia,
almost all observers whom I have spoken with believe that there is another
crucial cause - exported money and ideology from the Middle East, chiefly Saudi
Arabia. A Singaporean official told me, “Travel around Asia and you will see so
many new mosques and madrassas built in the last 30 years that have had funding
from the Gulf. They are modern, clean, air-conditioned, well-equipped - and
Wahhabi [Saudi Arabia’s puritanical version of Islam].” Recently, it was reported that Saudi Arabia plans to
contribute almost $1 billion to build 560 mosques
in Bangladesh. The Saudi government has denied this, but
sources in Bangladesh tell me there’s some truth to the report.
How to turn this trend
around? Singapore’s Shanmugam says that the city-state’s population (15 percent of which is Muslim) has stayed
relatively moderate because state and society work very hard at integration.
“We have zero tolerance for any kind of militancy, but we also try to make sure
Muslims don’t feel marginalized,” he explained. Singapore routinely gets high marks in global rankings for its transparency,
low levels of corruption and the rule of law. Its economy provides
opportunities for most. Asia continues to
rise, but so does Islamist radicalism there. This trend can be reversed only by
better governance and better politics - by leaders who are less corrupt, more
competent and, crucially, more willing to stand up to the clerics and
extremists. Saudi Arabia’s new crown prince spoke last week of
turning his kingdom to “moderate Islam.”
Many have mocked this as a
public-relations strategy, pointing to the continued dominance of
the kingdom’s ultra-orthodox religious establishment. A better approach would
be to encourage the crown prince, hold him to his words and urge him to follow
up with concrete actions. This is the prize. Were Saudi Arabia to begin
religious reform at home, it would be a far larger victory against radical
Islam than all the advances on the battlefield so far.
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