The term has been popularised in Australia by Kevin Rudd, foreign affairs spokesperson of the Australian Labor Party and a former professional diplomat. In a typical use of the term, Rudd recently wrote: "The Iraq war is leading to the middle-easternisation of militant Islamic politics in South East Asia. That is not my view. It is the considered view of the world's leading analysts of Islamist terrorist organisations in South East Asia."
The background to this view is the spead of militant Islamist groups such as Jemaah Islamiyah in the region, culminating in the 2002 Bali terrorist bombing. Indonesian Islamists frequently link western countries such as the United States and Australia with what they call the "Zionist occupation of Palestine." Indonesia has until recently been seen as a stronghold of "moderate Islam."
The influence of Middle East events on Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, will be seen more clearly when Indonesia votes in its first-even free and direct presidential election in 2004.