Boots on The Ground.(Brief Article)

Last week Indonesian president Megawati Sukarnoputri added her voice to the chorus of leaders supporting America's war against terrorism, pledging the solidarity of the world's largest Muslim country "in this hour of grief." But back home different voices were piping up. In Jakarta nine Islamic groups publicly threatened a "holy war" against America should Washington launch an assault on Afghanistan. The Saudi- educated head of the militant Islamic Defense Front warned that Muslims would attack the U.S. Embassy and "expel" Americans from Indonesia. Dressed in a white robe and turban, Habib Muhammad Rizieq calmly explained to a NEWSWEEK reporter that "if the U.S. attacks a Muslim country without solid proof of its involvement in the [bloodshed], you'd better leave Indonesia fast."

Some of the tough talk reflects mere bravado from the vocal fringe among Indonesia's more than 180 million Muslims. Like the rest of Southeast Asia, the country has historically espoused a kinder, gentler strain of Islam that has welcomed outsiders and accepted Western influences. Yet today social tensions and faltering economies throughout the region have bred legions of politicized (and often jobless) youth, the traditional tinder for radical movements from Cairo to Kabul. The small militant groups that do exist have become more violent, more organized and more linked to one another. Already alleged members of Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network have used the countries in the region as meeting and transit points; terrorism experts worry that they could become much more. "If bin Laden wants to call up resources or support cells here," says a Western political analyst in Jakarta, "everything he needs is already on the ground, ready to go."

Three nations in particular have seen an uptick in extremist operations in recent years. Muslim militant groups have been linked to kidnappings in the Philippines, anti-Christian violence in Indonesia and increasingly radical politics in Malaysia. (Indonesia and Malaysia have Muslim majorities, while an Islamic separatist movement has simmered in the southern Philippines for decades.) Al Qaeda reportedly helps finance training camps in the southern Philippines that welcome militants from across the region. All three countries are also home to mujahedin who, like bin Laden, fought in the Afghan war against the Soviets.

Continuing volatility, particularly in Indonesia, has added fuel to these radical movements. The bloody religious war between Christians and Muslims in the Moluccas has claimed more than 9,000 lives since 1999. Thousands of would-be holy warriors have been recruited and sent to the islands by the Laskar Jihad, a Java-based militant group that receives training and financial support from Al Qaeda, according to a Western diplomat. (Laskar chief Jafar Umar Thalib says a bin Laden lieutenant met him in the Moluccas last year to offer support; he claims he turned down ...