New theatre of terror?A cultural revival gathers pace. So do worries about fundamentalism
Sep 30th 2010
The Economist
PHNOM PENH
IN THE so-called war on terror, Cambodia is a sleepy outpost on a tense South-East Asian front that stretches from the Philippines to Thailand. Western governments are, however, worried that trouble may be brewing in this backwater.
Security experts fret about the possible perversion of a cultural revival by Cambodia’s Muslims, who mostly belong to the 400,000-strong Cham minority. In the genocidal 1970s the Khmer Rouge executed most leaders of the Cham and tried to exterminate both the tribe and Islam from the Maoist paradise they said they were building. Ben Kiernan of Yale University estimates that 90,000 out of a population of 250,000 died, a higher rate of loss than any other ethnic group. Only 21 imams survived out of 113, along with perhaps 15% of Cambodia’s mosques.
As they struggled from the wreckage, poor Muslim congregations came to depend on foreign charities for help rebuilding their mosques, whose numbers have risen tenfold to around 250 today, says Bjorn Blengsi, an anthropologist. They also became receptive to imported versions of Islam, which tend to be stricter than the traditionally relaxed local variety. Agnès de Féo, another anthropologist and author of “L’Islam au Cambodge et au Vietnam” says both Wahhabism from Saudi Arabia and Tablighi Jemaat from India are gaining adherents.
Nothing wrong with that, perhaps. Most Islamic charities teach the faith and help the poor. But not, alas, all. In one much-publicised incident in 2002, according to the American government, a local member of the Kuwaiti-based Revival of Islamic Heritage Society (RIHS) helped an Indonesian fugitive, Riduan Isamuddin (alias Hambali), the mastermind behind the nightclub bombings in Bali. Hambali, who is now in prison in Guantánamo Bay, reportedly said he had hoped to bomb the American and British embassies in Phnom Penh and to use Cambodia as a base for terrorist operations throughout South-East Asia. RIHS, which has been cleared of links with terrorism by Kuwait’s government, remains active in Cambodia. A local affiliate, the Kuwait-Cambodia Islamic Cultural Training Centre, recently met the president of parliament.
The influence of foreign religious organisations seems to be growing along with rising government loans from Gulf states. These loans include help for rebuilding religious institutions. In January, for example, Cambodia approved an agreement with Kuwait from 2008 in which the oil-rich state promised loans of $546m, mostly for energy and agriculture, and including $5m for new mosques and madrassas (Islamic schools). The only unusual thing about this was that the religious component was revealed. According to Milton Osborne of the Lowy Institute, an Australian think-tank, most aid packages from the Gulf include such a component but do not make it public.
Nothing wrong with that either, of course. But suspect and banned organisations seem to be moving in the slipstream of genuine charities. According to Ms de Féo, the al-Haramain Islamic Foundation and the International Islamic Relief Organisation have both worked in Cambodia. Branches of these bodies appear on the United Nations’ list of organisations banned for their links with al-Qaeda. Several other Kuwaiti charities in Cambodia are on America’s list of groups which finance terrorism, including some local affiliates of RIHS.
The concern of security experts is not that scores of terrorist actions are being carried out or even averted just in time. The most recent example of a terrorist plot hatched in Cambodia was as long ago as 2004, when three people connected to a madrassa in Phnom Penh were convicted of planning to bomb embassies there.
Rather, the worry is that unsavoury organisations are coming into the country to take advantage of the Cham revival. Though the Cham themselves do not seem to be embracing extremism, they remain—understandably given their history—suspicious of outsiders (including Cambodia’s government). Few people really know what is happening inside the areas they control. Fundamentalism remains a force in South-East Asia, and lawless Cambodia is no safe haven.
Security experts fret about the possible perversion of a cultural revival by Cambodia’s Muslims, who mostly belong to the 400,000-strong Cham minority. In the genocidal 1970s the Khmer Rouge executed most leaders of the Cham and tried to exterminate both the tribe and Islam from the Maoist paradise they said they were building. Ben Kiernan of Yale University estimates that 90,000 out of a population of 250,000 died, a higher rate of loss than any other ethnic group. Only 21 imams survived out of 113, along with perhaps 15% of Cambodia’s mosques.
As they struggled from the wreckage, poor Muslim congregations came to depend on foreign charities for help rebuilding their mosques, whose numbers have risen tenfold to around 250 today, says Bjorn Blengsi, an anthropologist. They also became receptive to imported versions of Islam, which tend to be stricter than the traditionally relaxed local variety. Agnès de Féo, another anthropologist and author of “L’Islam au Cambodge et au Vietnam” says both Wahhabism from Saudi Arabia and Tablighi Jemaat from India are gaining adherents.
Nothing wrong with that, perhaps. Most Islamic charities teach the faith and help the poor. But not, alas, all. In one much-publicised incident in 2002, according to the American government, a local member of the Kuwaiti-based Revival of Islamic Heritage Society (RIHS) helped an Indonesian fugitive, Riduan Isamuddin (alias Hambali), the mastermind behind the nightclub bombings in Bali. Hambali, who is now in prison in Guantánamo Bay, reportedly said he had hoped to bomb the American and British embassies in Phnom Penh and to use Cambodia as a base for terrorist operations throughout South-East Asia. RIHS, which has been cleared of links with terrorism by Kuwait’s government, remains active in Cambodia. A local affiliate, the Kuwait-Cambodia Islamic Cultural Training Centre, recently met the president of parliament.
The influence of foreign religious organisations seems to be growing along with rising government loans from Gulf states. These loans include help for rebuilding religious institutions. In January, for example, Cambodia approved an agreement with Kuwait from 2008 in which the oil-rich state promised loans of $546m, mostly for energy and agriculture, and including $5m for new mosques and madrassas (Islamic schools). The only unusual thing about this was that the religious component was revealed. According to Milton Osborne of the Lowy Institute, an Australian think-tank, most aid packages from the Gulf include such a component but do not make it public.
Nothing wrong with that either, of course. But suspect and banned organisations seem to be moving in the slipstream of genuine charities. According to Ms de Féo, the al-Haramain Islamic Foundation and the International Islamic Relief Organisation have both worked in Cambodia. Branches of these bodies appear on the United Nations’ list of organisations banned for their links with al-Qaeda. Several other Kuwaiti charities in Cambodia are on America’s list of groups which finance terrorism, including some local affiliates of RIHS.
The concern of security experts is not that scores of terrorist actions are being carried out or even averted just in time. The most recent example of a terrorist plot hatched in Cambodia was as long ago as 2004, when three people connected to a madrassa in Phnom Penh were convicted of planning to bomb embassies there.
Rather, the worry is that unsavoury organisations are coming into the country to take advantage of the Cham revival. Though the Cham themselves do not seem to be embracing extremism, they remain—understandably given their history—suspicious of outsiders (including Cambodia’s government). Few people really know what is happening inside the areas they control. Fundamentalism remains a force in South-East Asia, and lawless Cambodia is no safe haven.
9 comments:
ចង់ដឹងថា តើចាមមានឥទ្ធិពលប៉ុនណានៅកម្ពុជា ? សូម
ឧស្សាហ៍ស្ដាប់វិទ្យុអាស៊ីសេរីទៅ ដឹងហើយ។
ព្រោះថា វិទ្យុអាស៊ីសេរីឥឡូវចូលចិត្តផ្សព្វ
ផ្សាយ ព័ត៌មាននាៗ ដែលពាក់ព័ន្ធនិង ជនជាតិចាមនៅកម្ពុជាណាស់ ។ ហើយអ្នកសារព័ត៌មានមួយចំនួន គឺមានឈាមជ័រចាមតែម្ដង បើចង់ដឹងមែនទេ
សូមសួរលោក ហាក់សាន ទៅមើល៎ !
The Chams were annihilated by the Viets, and their last santuary is now Cambodia. From all reports, including the one being discussed here, they are a peaceful people struggling through their lives like the rest of the Khmer population. In fact, some of the most patriotic Cambodians had/have Cham heritage (Perhaps they remember the stories their parents told them about Viets astrocities, so are more determined).
For 11.44AM to raise this spectre of suspicion and veiled racism against them is ludicrous. This Hanoi supporter will say and do anything to redirect attention from the Viet government's controlling ambition, including vilifying an innocent group.
Cham culture and religion nearly became extinct. Now they are getting some help from Muslim nations to revive those. What is wring with that? To say that somehow a terror organisation can come out of this is stretching the imagination a bit, because there is no support for such idiocy within the Cham community. They, as much as the whole of Cambodia's people know, that embassies like Britain, France, Germany etc, are extensions of the various charity organisations that help them on a daily basis. They are smart enough to know not to bite the hands that feed them.
This story about possible terror from within the Cham community is just an cover for Hanoi and Samdech whatever-the-rest-of-his-title-is Hun Sen to mercilessly suppress any struggle the Cambodian people have with the present government. Any physical challenge by land evictees, by factory workers, by anyone, will be labelled terrorism and be answered with unreasonable force by the CPP and its supporters.
So, fellow Khmers, please think carefully before you caste any suspicion on a minority. We need the Chams-Khmers, who know a thing or two about fights with the Viets, to be on our side rather than against us in our struggle to be free from Hanoi's very very strong influence.
I likes Khmer Cham I used to lived next to Cham they were very nices people.
Soon, the 400,000 - strong Chams require independent from Cambodia.
Chams recover Mondulkiri Rathanakiri Prey Veng Kompong Cham, Steung Treng. The Khmer people become a minority in their own country.
because of that ? it's because of the weakness of the government of Hun Sen.
Cham Khmer is very good but after 30 years they're more acceptance stricter version from the Cham golf Stat nation, then they're becoming a real big domestic CAT thaT eLEPHENT MUST BE WORRY about it. Looks nowaday on the western world nowaday...! many of them are good, a hand full of them are seeking to destroy the other nation, the extremist one.
That's a very sensible viewpoint, Wattanak. The Chams, like their Khmer brethren, have retained their historical memory and bitterness over their mistreatment by the expansionist Vietnamese State since the losses of Champa and Kampuchea Krom. Sadly, the Cham minority had almost been halved by the KR regime.
This ethnic minority have been woven into the fabric of Cambodian society for hundreds of years, and despite their distinct cultural outlook or features, have always been able to co-exist peacefully alongside their Khmer brothers and sisters. Their strict moral codes and conducts are firmly rooted in their religion which have been responsible for their being invaluable members of the national community in virtually every sphere of life.
I think for the purpose of integration and well-being of all Cambodians, the Chams should continue to be referred to as 'Khmer Islams' or by similar inclusive terms with which Khmers describe other Cambodians such as 'Khmer Leu' or 'Khmer Krom' etc.
Perhaps, one of the reasons for the KR's intolerance towards the Chams is the perception that their theism (belief in divine Being) would make them impossible to be inducted into an atheistic ideology and state, and they, like the educated classes or 'intelligentsia', could pose a political threat to their totalitarian regime.
The immediate and long term threat that could be posed to Cambodia is not the Chams or Khmer-Muslims, but the Vietnamese State and its counterpart to the country's North and South-West.
As for Islamic 'fundamentalism', this is an international issue that could be encountered any where with any sizable muslim population; a security issue that the Khmer-Muslims and the state authorities need to work on and be weary of.
Like terrorism itself, the impact and scope of religious fundamentalism or its influences can be vastly exaggerated and be quite disproportionate to the number of people who actually instigate or inspire the deeds as such.
I certainly would rather see, however, oppressed people rise up against their Oppressors by whatever means at their disposal, than to find them cowed to their endless sufferings and miseries.
School of Vice
Better to be with Cham than ah Youn choymaray!!!!11:54!
And may lightning destroy the dictators and their families!
People, you better take this warning seriously. Never under estimated Islamic religion. This religion is out to kill and conquer. Yeah, the Chams might be nice Muslims for the time being but a time is coming that they must obey their law of jihad or be kill by the very faith that they been trusting.
I have heard that Europe is over run by Muslims. Sound like Muslims are having the upper hand of political affairs. I also saw a video of a woman being stone to death under Sharia law. This could happen to Cambodia if Muslim take control over the country. Muslim religion is Satanic in nature.
You can accuse me of being a racist but I want warn you of the evil of Islam. Other religions couldn't build a worship center in Saudi Arabia, let alone if you are found to be a Christian in Arabia, death is certain for that believer. They will not tolerate Jews and Christians. Yet they disperse their propaganda in America saying that we should be more tolerant to their beliefs.Now what kind of reason is that? Haven't any of you heard of honor killings? Come on it has taken place in America and Canada in recent years. Muslims are cry babies can't tolerate those who expose their lies. hey, i heard testimonies of those who used to be radical Islamic became believers and are exposing the lie behind Islam and their lives are hang in the balance.
In the book of Revelation it speaks of Mystery Babylon, the mother of all whore. It give the description where this Mystery Babylon is located, in a desert. I won't go into much detail now but to say Saudi Arabia is the country and Mecca is the city. This is where Islam birth forth. The bible say that she is very rich and live in luxury. In Dubai they plan to put up the tallest sky scraper up to a mile high. And the prince of Arabia has one of his pet cars studded with diamonds worth over 4 million dollars. But when the time comes God will judge this Mystery Babylon. She will be burn down in one hour. Why? because of her many sins and corruption.
I have read of Cambodian government wanting to send workers to Arabia. I say, DON'T for the sake of that worker. Once they enter into Arabia they are under Sharia law and men will do whatever they want with a woman. The bible say that souls of men purchasing is part of the trade in Arabia right now. Please pass this message on as a warning to not send workers to Saudi Arabia. Even if they think that they are going to Malaysia, they might end up in Arabia as their destination.
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