|
|
Asia-Pacific
Anti-US terrors continue
Jakarta Bombing Aimed at Aussie Premiere's
Pro-US, Anti-Terror Policy in Oct. Election
Indonesian Muslims Disgruntled with US-led War
By Gautaman Bhaskaran South Asia Editor
 | Indonesian workers look through the shattered windows of a building in Jakarta's modern business district, much of which was damaged in the bombing. Courtesy Beawiharta — Reuters | Terrorism continues. Nobody is able to check it. Or, so it appears by the free run terrorists have.The cause at this point of time clearly seems to be Iraq, where the American invasion has triggered a frightening backlash. We have seen several terror attacks since then, and the most heinous of killings, those of the Nepali captives in Iraq being probably the most gruesome.With the latest bombing outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta on Thursday (Sept. 9), it is evident that Muslim militancy is growing in intensity and pace.Osama bin-Laden's Al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah claims to have perpetrated Thursday's ghastly crime in Jakarata.The group was blamed for the earlier explosions in Indonesia: in Bali in 2002, when 202 people, including 88 Australians, perished and; in Jakarta's JW Marriott Hotel in 2003, when 12 people died.Soon after Thursday (Sept. 9)'s blast, the Jemaah Islamiyah posted a message in an Arab website: We warn of more attacks unless Australia withdraws its forces from Iraq ... We advise all Australians to get out of Indonesia or we will make it grave for them." | Abu Bakar Bashir, spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah | The Jakarata attack can well influence the early October elections in Australia, where Prime Minister John Howard is contesting on a pro-American, anti-terror platform. The bombing also came just ahead of Indonesia's presidential polls, and, more significantly, two days before the September 11 anniversary of the disasters in New York and Washington in 2001.Analysts have also begun to wonder whether this would have an added implication on the November re-election of U.S. President George Bush. A spate of such terror attacks on America and its allies worldwide can certainly worsen the resentment against Bush at home.Michael Moore's powerful documentary, "Fahrenheit 9/11" — now being widely screened and applauded not just in the U.S. but elsewhere too — has damned Bush's policies with hard facts. One of them is the illogical and the unfair means adopted by the Bush administration to drag ordinary Americans into a fictitious war. For this, Moore reveals in his film, the U.S. President went to the extent of creating a fear psychosis in his country.In Australia, there have been serious reservations about Howard's policies. Many Indonesians felt humiliated by the loss of Timor in 1999, and have held Australia responsible. Most Indonesians are Muslims, and they have been disgusted with the "demonisation" of Islam in the America-led war against terrorism. Canberra's recent decision to buy medium-range missiles, which can strike Indonesia, has been yet another cause of ire.If these have been resented by Indonesians, Howard's direction has been an area of concern, debate and damnation even among Australians.However, the question now is, will Australians vote for Howard known for his strong security measures, but whose focus on matters such as health care, education, taxation, etc, has been painfully limited. | Australian Prime Minister John Howard (left) wth US President George Bush | Howard's Labor challenger, Mark Latham, has promised Australians to bring home his soldiers in Iraq before Christmas. This undoubtedly means that the current Islamic militant threat against Australians has a reasonably good chance of diminishing. But with American security cover over Australia, Latham may not find it a cakewalk to defy Washington. North Korea's nuclear ambitions are an another impediment.In the final analysis, Bush perhaps holds the key. His exit may signal a reevaluation of American methods in West Asia, and there can be a move to de-link terror from Islam. Attempts can be made to distance the two by narrowing the fight against militancy to the few hardcore Muslim elements, and suppressing the tendency to hold the entire religious community guilty in one way or the other.A serious effort must be made to win over the mild and the moderate among the Muslims in order to alienate the radical. Today, the entire Islamic race is peeved over the fact that each one of them is looked at with suspicion and hostility.I would like to conclude with an example of this. Last year, I was part of a small group of friends traveling by car from Canada to the U.S., when the one Muslim member, a respected Chartered Accountant and long-term Canadian citizen, was singled out by American immigration for uncomfortably long questioning before he was allowed to pass. The rest of us was just waved by!
Related Articles Tiger Man Mike Pandey Egypt's First Edition of El Gouna Film ... El Gouna Film Festival Opens with Sheikh ... New Egypt's El Gouna Film Festival to Add ... India Stands Shamed after Racial Attacks near ... The Dashing Pedro Almodovar to Chair Cannes ... Korean Cinema Comes to Chennai in India The Horror of Custodial Death Modi Is the Man We Need in India Mumbai¡¯s Child King The Cocktail at Cannes Cannes Film Fest Begins on a Hollywood Note Mumbai Terrorized Again Venice Lines Up Impressive Jury Cannes Film Fest Begins on a Delightful Note No Indian Movie at the Festival Meaningless Film Censorship This Bloody Life! Mumbai and Pusan Film Fest Establish Ties On Road, in Rage India Picks Wrong Films for Oscars Robert De Niro to Head Cannes Film Fest Jury Someone Killed Jessica, But of Course! Middle Eastern Cinema Hits Hard Dubai Film Fest Opener Dubai Film Fest to Unravel Diverse Selection Indian Police Cut Corners to Tackle Crime Goa Festival Not God's Own "West Is West" Sets IFFI Sailing Fine Cinema at the Coming Dubai Film Festival "The King's Speech" to Set the Fest Rolling Abu Dhabi Film Festival a Fantastic Mix of ... "Adoor Gopalakrishnan: A Life in Cinema" ... The Venetian Storm Frieda's Venice Jafar Panahi's Music Soothes Souls "Black Swan" Opens Venice Festival Festival to Bounce with Youthful Energy Shame and Scandal Plague Commonwealth Games Child Needs Compassion, Not Cane A Beast Called Beauty Adoor Gopalakrishnan: A Life in Cinema Bhopal Gas Tragedy: A Crime Called Bhopal Honour Killings Are India's Shame Cannes Film Festival And Poetry Cannes More Art Than Glamour This Time An Indian Pilgrimage to Cannes Maoist Rebellion in India Asians to Carry the Torch at Cannes Cannes Film Festival and Probables "Robin Hood" to Open Cannes Film Festival Persecution of Artists The Only Two Real Races This Year Curry Bashing in Australia US Director Tim Burton to Lead Cannes Jury India's Car Boom Creates Its Own Chaos Making Idiots Out of Men Indian Girls Find Paris Hilton¡¯s Shoes Too Hot Mexican Film Wins Top Prize at Marrakech Ben Kingsley Hopes to Be an Envoy for Cinema Movie Director Hopes Obama Would Solve the ... Nandita Das on Marrakech Jury A Decaying Film Festival Marrakech Festival a Boon for Local Cinema Panorama Selection Questionable IFFI to Open on a Note of Visual Lyricism South Korea to Be Focus at the Film Fest Dalai Lama¡¯s Tawang Visit Vexes Beijing Why Mumbai Film Fest Scores over Goa Mumbai¡¯s Young Movie Critics Ready to Tear ... India Is Still Hungry for Food Honor Killing through Lens at Mumbai Festival 11th Mumbai Film Festival to Open with Matt ... Film Festival to Showcase Some Gems Can India Host 2010 Commonwealth Games? A New Irritant in India-China Ties The Venetian Sorrow The Tiger War Israeli War Film Wins Venice¡¯s Top Golden Lion Politicians Livid over Festival Movie "Bad Lieutenant" Creates Bad Blood between Two ... Clooney and Damon Star Attractions at Venice Muslim Bashing Must End Mumbai Film Festival Prizes to Be among the ... An Indian Juror in De Sica Land India's Gays Can Now Love without Fear Moore's "Capitalism," 70 Other Films to ... An Indian Summer at the Lagoon City Festival May Be Strong on European Fare A Tamil Film with a Difference Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince:
But ... India Is Racist Too Hollywood Bungles in Bollywood The Tragic Tale of the Indian Tiger Cannes Jury Honors Chilling Tales Lars Von Trier¡¯s Sex and Horror Gems and the Cannes Film Festival Market and the Cannes Film Festival Keats Poetry, Campion¡¯s Reading Lou Ye¡¯s Controversial Disaster Clash of Titans on the Croisette Sexy Sirens and Political Propagandists Is Sharmila Tagore the Right Choice for Cannes ... The Stars in Cannes¡¯ Dark Skies Cannes Courts Controversy Indian Elections: A Circus of Villains Festival Unveils Lineup of Masters Beyond Bollywood¡¯s Melodramatic Mishmash India's Infrastructure at Breaking Point Guessing the Festival Goodies Kate Winslet the New Face of Brilliance Tarantino¡¯s ¡®Basterds¡¯ to Spit Fire at Fest Animated Film, Up, to Open Festival Smoking Screen Oscar-Rich Penelope Set to Master English Cannes Honours Clint Eastwood Renowned French Star to Chair Cannes Jury Fable of Mr Benjamin Button: Riveting Cinema The Mangalore Molest Aamir Khan Film Is a Bad Copy It May Well Be the End of Agony in Sri Lanka Woody Allen¡¯s "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" International Film Festival of India Mumbai Terror Marrakech Int'l Film Festival Has Grown Marrakech Int'l Film Festival Marrakech International Film Festival Shambled Secularism Benegal¡¯s Sajjanpur Birdwatchers Venice Festival Blues Venice under the Hollywood Spell ? A Riveting Movie on Islam's Crisis Venice Festival a Haven for World Premieres Pakistani Films Come to India, at Last! Tamil Super Hero Rises Again The Comic Fantasy The Smoking Screen! Bollywood and Beyond at Stuttgart New Film May Spell Hope for Bollywood Indian Cinema Feeds Deceit An Indian Film on an American Power Plant India Not At Cannes Cannes Line-Up Writer Taslima Nasreen Forced Out of India India Inspires World Fashion Mills & Boon "Jodhaa Akbar" Creates Controversy in India Sania Mirza Subject to Ridicule in Native India Sarkozy and Bruni Love Causes Moral Outrage India and the Oscars Marrakech International Film Festival Reviewed Paranoid Park Cannes 2007: Killings The Spy Case The Good and the Not So Good Bollywood Superman First Kashmiri Film in 20 Years Chinese Influence Seems Unstoppable Cannes Film Festival 2006: Minimalism, Too Cannes Fest Prizes Cannes Film Festival 2006: Great Delights The Da Vinci Code Missing Tigers The Despair of Tibetans Trilateral Stratagem To Slow China's Growth Sri Lanka Crisis Hollywood Movies Doing Well In India Peace Pipe Mangal Pandey: The Rising Honda Clash Bush-Manmohan Singh Pact Satyajit Ray, Still India's Most Noted Movie ... Ban on Cigarettes in India "Match Point" Excoriated by Britons Crisis In India¡¯s Hindu Nationalist Party Manmohan Singh¡¯s One Year 58th Cannes International Film Festival Begins Indo-Pakistan Cricket Diplomacy U.S. Visa Refusal The 7th Deauville Asian Film Festival Closes Seedy Film Journalism Indian Tigers Butchered in Broad Daylight No Oscar for Scorsese, Yet Again Nepal in Turmoil As King Sacks PM Deuba History Repeats in Struggle for Free Press India Could Have Prevented Tsunami Deaths Argue over Freedom on Internet "City of Gold" Dubai Stands like Oasis in ... Towards a Solution to the Kashmir Problem India & China Rising Bush Victory and India Indian Robinhood After 9/11, World Links Muslim with Violence India's Great Heritage Taj Mahal in Danger "Kashmir": A Never Ending Thorny Issue The Village -- A Silly Joke Jakarta Bombing Aimed at Aussie ... Millions of Indians Go to Bed Hungry Sri Lanka's Ethnic War Knows No End Over 600 Tibetan Monks, Nuns Should Be Freed India's Schoolgirl Killer Hanged in Controversy 3 Kidnapped Indians Endure Agonizing Torture Musharraf's Sets Deadline on Kashmir Usefulness of Nepalese Monarchy in Question Temple of Learning Turns into Grave of Death AIDS Keeps Threatening the Poor in Asia, Africa Fearful of Dowry Parents Kill Newborn Girls Hot Discussion on Death Penalty in India India's Flag of Democracy Kept Unfurled Politics Dominates Cannes Int'l Film Festival Intolerance Grows before India General Election Fears of Strife Continue in Sri Lanka Torture, Rape Occur in Indian Classroom World Leaders Must Take Stand against Nukes India's Cities Prosper as Country Folk Starve India, Pakistan Form Friendly Ties Cell Phones Bring Joy, Sorrow World Over
Other Articles by Gautaman Bhaskaran
Tiger Man Mike Pandey Egypt's First Edition of El Gouna Film ... El Gouna Film Festival Opens with Sheikh ... New Egypt's El Gouna Film Festival to Add ... India Stands Shamed after Racial Attacks ...
Gautaman Bhaskaran is a veteran film critic and writer who has covered Cannes and other major international festivals, like Venice, Berlin, Montreal, Melbourne, and Fukuoka over the past two decades. He has been to Cannes alone for 15 years. He has worked in two of India¡¯s leading English newspapers, The Hindu and The Statesman, and is now completing an authorized biography of India¡¯s auteur-director, Adoor Gopalakrishnan. Penguin International will publish the book, whose research was funded by Ford Foundation.
back
|
|
|
|
|