ABSTRACT
The expression of political Islam in the Philippines and Thailand is significantly different from its manifestation in Muslim-majority countries. It reflects the disaffection of the Muslim populations in areas that were once independent political entities, but are now part of non-Muslim majority states. This discontent, which broke out in armed separatist rebellions in the 1970s, is fed by the socio-economic and political grievances of marginalised populations with a strong sense of group identity, defined in Islamic terms. A similar pattern applies in the Indonesian province of Aceh, except that the Acehnese insurgency has taken place within a Muslim-majority country In both the Philippines and Thailand, although the conflict derives essentially from indigenous causes, it has acquired an international dimension as the separatists established links with Islamic radicals in other parts of the Muslim world.
