Funding Terrorism in Southeast Asia: The Financial Network of Al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya

The war on terror has been well executed in Southeast Asia. The arrests of more than 160 Jemaah Islamiya-linked militants since December 2001 have disrupted the capabilities of terrorist operations. JI is less able to execute major attacks than they were a year ago. Yet there are causes for concern: first the group is rebuilding its capabilities. Second, there have been no gains in combating terrorist financing in the region, and to date no terrorist assets or funds have been seized in the region, despite evidence that Southeast Asia has only increased in financial importance to Al Qaeda. JI's financial operations are complex, ranging from legal to illegal, overt to covert. Due to the nature of their funding mechanisms and the fact that terrorism is asymmetrical warfare, combating terrorist financing will not be easy. Yet, choking the terrorist lifeblood is as important as targetting the operational cells themselves.