Following the Money Trail: Terrorist Financing and Government Responses in Southeast Asia

• NCJ Number: 217698
• Journal: Studies in Conflict and Terrorism Volume: 30 Issue: 2 Dated: February 2007 Pages: 131-156
• Author(s): Aurel Croissant; Daniel Barlow
• Date Published: February 2007
• Length: 26 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This comparative study examines how terrorist groups in Southeast Asia finance their activities, how governments combat terrorism financing, and the reasons for the varying degree to which governments comply with and implement international standards of counterterrorism financial safeguards.

Abstract

Three general sources of funding for terrorist groups in Southeast Asia were found to exist: criminal activities, charities, and commercial activities. Even though most local groups depend on the first and second sources, access to the third source is easier for transnational groups. In relation to counterterrorism, there is a divergence in terms of compliance and implementation. Singapore shows the strongest degree of compliance and implementation, followed by Thailand and Indonesia. The relevant governmental institutions are not well developed and international law enforcement cooperation is slow. In addition, despite all of the policy and legislative activity little practical assistance is available to financial institutions that are supposed to identify terrorist financing. Islamic charities and the informal value transfer systems are unregulated and evidence for enforcement of paper rules is lacking. Because of its well developed legal framework and evidence of enforcement, the Philippines does better than often portrayed. However, the lack of an adequate administrative framework remains the problem of counterterrorism financing in that nation. The identified problem countries in the region are Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Burma. In the war on terror, many routes have been taken. The effort by the global community to limit the funds to terrorist organizations is one of the cornerstones of this effort. This comparative study of terrorist financing and government response in Southeast Asia examined how terrorist groups in the region financed their activities, what measures, legislative and otherwise, had been employed by the governments in the region to combat terrorism financing, and what factors accounted for the discrepancy of norm acceptance and compliance in the region. Figures, tables, notes