CHAPTER II: REVIEW ON RELATED LITERATURE
B. Terrorism
The term terrorism has shifted and developed in meaning, this is due to how the media project terrorism. At first, the terrorism movement represented the status quo of public discourse, reproducing the hegemonic idea promoted by politics, media, and war experts. This of course makes the meaning of terrorism difficult to understand because the mass cultural representation of terrorism is problematic because of the imaginary effects that tend to be ideological. According to Thomas Riegler, terrorism in Hollywood films is often represented as an entity that carries out its actions without being politicized and these actions are only pathological or criminal. Indirectly, this
19
representation reduces the complexity of reality regarding terrorism and makes it a simple dichotomy, the battle between good and evil (2009).
The discourse of terrorism inappropriately produces a kind of false awareness that can distort people's understanding of the meaning of terrorism and its relation to violence and political agendas. Riegler also argues that cinema and popular culture are able to indirectly depict shifts in political and ideological trends (2010). Terrorism is an issue which extensively campaigned and popularized by US government, especially post 9/11 by using slogan “War against terrorism” which led to sending US Army to many Muslim countries such as Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan. Long before, the historical roots of terrorism were closely related to geopolitical relations and constellations between the power of the West and the East. Based on historical events, since the existence the Crusade war, both of Christians and Muslims had clash for fighting the land of Jerussalem over in the first century (Rahayu & Mediyansyah, 2020, p.2).
Consequently, instead of taking action to create peace through programs against terrorism, the ambiguity is evident by the damage not to the terrorists but the victims, mostly innocent civilians (Rahayu & Mediyansyah, 2020, p.9).
The word "terrorist" and terrorism come from the Latin word "terrere" which more or less means to make tremble or vibrate. The word terror can also cause horror.
However, to date, there has been no universally accepted definition of terrorism. The term terrorism is a concept that has a sensitive connotation because terrorism results in the emergence of innocent civilian victims. In the context of Indonesia, the issue of
20
terrorism became a focal point at the time of the bombing in Legian, Bali, on October 12, 2002, which caused Indonesia to become an international public spotlight, considering that the majority of victims of the Bali bombing tragedy were foreigners.
The existence of the explosion became an indicator that a terrorist network had entered the territory of the Republic of Indonesia. The terror that occurred was the biggest in Indonesia from a series of existing terror (Wahid et al., 2004).
Terrorism is roughly a term used to use violence against civilians/non-combatants to achieve political goals, on a smaller scale than war. In terms of language, the term terrorist originated in France in the 18th century. The word Terrorism, which means in a state of terror (under the terror), comes from the Latin "terrere" which means trembling and "detererre" which means fear.
1. Characteristics of terrorism
Several forms of terrorism, generally known by the public, which we need to discuss from these forms, include criminal terror and political terror. When it comes to criminal terror, it is usually only for personal gain or self-enrichment.
Criminal terrorists can use extortion and intimidation. They use words that can cause fear or psychological terror. Another case with political terror is that political terror does not choose victims. Political terrorists are always ready to kill civilians: men, women, adults, or children without considering political or moral judgment; political terror is an important social phenomenon (Sunardi, Wahid, & Sidik, 2004).
21
Whereas, based on Lodge (1988) political terrorism has the following characteristics:
a. Terrorism is the coercive intimidation.
b. Using systematic killings and destructions as a means for a particular purpose.
c. The victim is not a goal, but a means to create a nerve war, namely "kill one person to frighten a thousand people".
d. Terrorist targets are chosen, working in secret, but the aim is publicity.
e. The message of the action was quite clear, although the perpetrators did not always express themselves personally.
f. The perpetrators are mostly motivated by idealism that is quite hard, for instance, "fighting for religion and humanity", so hard-core terror groups are fanatics who are ready to die (Lodge, 1988).
Regarding the typology of terrorism, there are several explanatory versions, including typology formulated by the “National Advisory Committee” (US Department
22
of Justice, 1976) in The Report of the Task Force on Disorders and Terrorism, which states as follows, there are several forms of terrorism, namely:
a. Political Terrorism, namely criminal violent behavior designed to foster a sense of fear in the community for political purposes.
b. Non-political terrorism that is trying to foster fear through violence, for personal gains, such as organized crime.
c. Quasi terrorism, described as "carried out incidentally", but has no specific ideological content, is more for payment purposes, for example, in the case of aircraft hijacking or hostage-taking in which the perpetrators are more interested in ransom than political motivation.
d. Limited political terrorism, defined as terrorists, which has political and ideological motives, but is more aimed at controlling the situation (the State).An example is a terrorist act that is a revenge killing (vendetta-type executions).
e. Terrorism State or government that is a State or government, which bases its power with fear and oppression in controlling society.
Terrorism committed by the State is one form of crime that is classified as very special. Because the State is a large organization that is pioneered by the power of the
23
people, but on the other hand, has the obligation to regulate, protect, and improve people's lives materially and non-materially. When the State, through its government officials involved in criminal acts vertically, horizontally, regionally, nationally, and internationally, it is automatically the people who are sacrificed (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2008).