ABSTRACT
As each Southeast Asian country is confronted with its own home-grown terrorist problem, counterterrorism measures at the national level are particularly critical as governments and their policies will have to be accountable to the due electoral process. At the same time, all governments have committed themselves to anti-terrorism policies, even though the manners in which their commitments have been implemented have varied from country to country. Since September 11, 2001, attention has been increasingly focused on the links of Islamic terrorist groups in Southeast Asia with al-Qaeda, and in this regard, a number of groups are believed to be part of this global terrorist network. United States foreign policy in the Middle East has played a major determining role in limiting the success of American antiterrorism policies in the region. There is a need for the Southeast Asian region to demonstrate to the international community that it is able to handle the threat of terrorism in a concerted manner.
