EDITORIAL - Concerted action needed

The bombing Saturday night in Bali’s popular Kuta Beach destroyed less than a city block. But the attack has triggered a conflagration that is engulfing not only the island of Bali but also the rest of Indonesia and most of Southeast Asia including the Philippines. On Sunday the exodus of tourists from Bali started, with Australia airlifting its terrified nationals from the airport in the Balinese capital of Denpasar. More than a dozen of the confirmed fatalities were Australian tourists, with 220 still missing.

Bali, which is separate from the main Indonesian island of Java, had been insulated from the often violent social unrest that has rocked that country for decades. The Balinese people focused on their Hindu worship – unique in the world’s most populous Muslim nation – and on the island’s main source of livelihood, tourism. Now that industry has been dealt a grievous blow, and it could take years before it can recover.

Tourism in neighboring countries is also expected to suffer, particularly in the areas where Jemaah Islamiyah, the radical Islamist group affiliated with Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorist network, is believed to operate. These countries include the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore, which have been trying to market tourism as a regional enterprise.

It’s not just tourists but investors who could be scared away by the terrorist threat. The countries identified with Jemaah Islamiyah have already been suffering from stiff competition posed by countries such as China and Vietnam, where authoritarian regimes keep peace and order problems in check and production costs low.

Dealing with vicious terrorists will require novel measures and extraordinary security cooperation in Southeast Asia. One major problem is how to draw the line between an internal security matter and one that could affect neighboring countries. This is especially true in Indonesia, where Jemaah Islamiyah members enjoy popular support, thus tying the hands of President Megawati Sukarnoputri in going after terrorists. Southeast Asian nations have always stayed away from each other’s domestic security concerns. In the war on terror, however, nations are realizing that the line between local and global concerns has been blurred. Leaders of Southeast Asia must address the terrorist threat in this new light.