In the post-Cold war world, the threat of terrorism is emerging as the most
formidable challenge. The terrorist attacks including 9.11 World Trade Center attack
have proved such challenge. It has become apparent that no country is safe from the
scourage of terrorism. The region of the southeast Asia is no exception to this trend.
The Bali bombing of 2002, killing about 200 innocent people, demonstrated that the
threat environment had significantly altered. Today, local and regional groups such as
Jemiah Islamiah can conduct terrorist operations as devastating as those carried out by
Al Qaeda.
As fighting terrorism is a complex multi-dimensional task, the responsibility for
fighting terrorism must not rest with a single government. The burden must be shared
by both the local governments and international communities. In addition, To prevent
another bombing of the scale of Bali, countries in the region of southeast Asia must
respond decisively.
The purpose of this study is to examine the current situation on terrorism in the
southeast Asia and to provide perspectives on future terrorism in this region. To foster
the better understanding, historical survey on the terrorism in the region and local
terrorist groups\' network with the foreign terrorist organizations including Al Qaeda
have been researched. Based on the result of the research, this paper provides a
perspectives and evaluation on the future terrorism in the southeast Asia. It also
provides an implications for our reference in the war against terrorism.