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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (120997)	12/6/2003 12:58:05 AM
From: Dayuhan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

I am very familiar with this story as well, and once again there is nothing here that would suggest that Khomeini was a significant force in the development of politicized Islam in SE Asia. I’m not quite sure why you posted this. I’ll save you the trouble of looking further. The first documented contact between Middle Eastern Islamic radicalism and SE Asian Islamic movements came in the early 1970s, with Qaddafi’s involvement in the Mindanao conflict. Qaddafi discovered the fight when he heard a BBC broadcast describing a massacre of Muslims by Christian militiamen in Cotabato. He had no contacts of any kind in Mindanao; he had to send people to Manila, which is where they found Nur Misuari, a Tausug instructor at the University of the Philippines. Misuari’s Islamic/socialist blend is often attributed to Qaddafi, but this is inaccurate: UP in the late ‘60s and 70s was a left hotbed, and Misuari’s writings before the Qaddafi contact make it clear that his philosophy was well formed before he encountered the Libyans. Libya provided organizational and some material support, but the most significant help came from Malaysia, where the government was not at all happy with Marcos’ plan to seize the disputed province of Sabah. The main focus of Libyan assistance was diplomatic: dependence on imported oil forced Marcos to enter negotiations. Qaddafi did not create the conflict in Mindanao, and never directed it to any significant degree. He did exploit it, in an attempt to expand his own influence and lend credence to his attempt to portray himself as the protector of the faith.