Security and Terrorism in the Malay Archipelago

Abstract

The Encyclopaedia Britannica defines the Malay archipelago in terms of physical geography. It describes the archipelago as the largest group of islands in the world, consisting of more than 13,000 islands in Indonesia and about 7,000 islands in the Philippines. The islands of Indonesia include those of the Greater Sundas (Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and the Celebes), the Lesser Sundas, the Moluccas, and Irian Jaya (West New Guinea). The islands of the Philippines include Luzon, the Visayans, and Mindanao. Other political units in the archipelago are the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, the sultanate of Brunei, and the state of Papua New Guinea.1 This region is also regarded as maritime Southeast Asia, as opposed to mainland Southeast Asia, which is connected by land to the rest of Asia. Although a narrow, geographical definition of the archipelago excludes West Malaysia, which is geographically part of mainland Southeast Asia, both Malaysia and Singapore are usually regarded in discussions on politics as part of the archipelago, given their close political, cultural, and social links with it.KeywordsRegional SecuritySecurity ChallengeMaritime SecurityMalay ArchipelagoPivotal RegionThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.