SINGAPORE -- The failed mutiny by 300 Philippine Army soldiers, which gripped Manila's financial district for 21 hours on Sunday, highlighted the intricate problem of security and terrorism in Southeast Asia.
The mutineers, who demanded the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her "corrupt government," alleged that military officials had sold arms to Muslim separatists and communist rebels who were blamed for recent bombings in southern Philippines. Terrorism was therefore at the center of this short-lived putsch.
In neighboring Indonesia, a bomb blast earlier this month in Jakarta's Parliament complex, immediately after the arrest of nine suspected terrorists and the discovery of huge caches of weapons and explosives in Jakarta, sparked renewed fears of terrorism in the country.