Asean’s rising terrorism threat calls for urgent action

BY JEREMY DOUGLAS AND JOSEPH GYTE

2016 was a year of rising terrorist activity for the Asean region. Arrests and deaths of terrorist suspects in Indonesia more than doubled to 170, Malaysia faced a steady stream of travel attempts of foreign terrorist fighters to Syria or Iraq and witnessed its first successful Daesh attack in June, and the Philippines suffered from an increase in bombings and hostage-takings conducted by Daesh affiliated groups, including Abu Sayyaf. Less covered in the international media, Thailand’s ‘Deep South’ experienced a dramatic upsurge in attacks to over 800, resulting in over 300 deaths and 600 injured.