It’s all about poverty and discrimination, natch, and American foreign policy. Here is what one of the participants in this seminar, Jaffar Umar Thalib, did a few years ago because of poverty, discrimination, and American foreign policy:
April 26, 2002: Militant Muslim Laskar Jihad commander Jaffar Umar Thalib told several thousand worshippers at the Alfatah Mosque in Ambon, capital of the Malukus (Spice Islands), “Our … focus now must be preparing for war.”
Thirty-six hours later, nearby Soya village was attacked. Thirteen were killed, including two babies, about 30 Christian homes were razed and the Protestant church was left in ruins.
May 3: Thalib, in a radio broadcast, told Muslims to “write out their wills … get out all your weapons … [and] fight against them [the Christians] to the last drop of blood”…
Were the Christians he killed rich? Discriminating against Muslims? American?
None of the above.
“Religion not to blame: Muslim seminar,” by Alfian in the Jakarta Post:
Terror attacks are not always linked to religious fanaticism and can be triggered by issues including poverty, discrimination and marginalization, a Muslim organization said Friday.
At a seminar about peace, Islam and hardline groups, Muslim group Muhammadiyah’s Haedar Nashir told a seminar here “antagonistic factors” including discrimination “often caused antagonistic reactions such as terrorism”.
“With regard to religious groups, particularly those with militant behavior, these unjust conditions are responded to by sectarian reactions that can lead to radicalism or violence in the name of God,” Haedar said.
The seminar, “Peaceful Islam and the Emergence of Hardline Groups” was organized by the Islam and State Study Center of the Paramadina University.
Other speakers included Nahdlatul Ulama leader Masdar F. Mas’udi, political observer Fachri Ali, and former commander of Laskar Jihad, Ja’far Umar Thalib.
All speakers said world superpower hegemony was one factor that contributed largely to the increase of both radicalism and terrorism.
The United States invading a number of Muslim countries was believed to have created radical behavior in the Muslim world, the speakers said.