Opinion

Sri Lanka attacks: why the wealthy and successful become suicide bombers

The world was shocked to hear that two of the nine suicide bombers that hit Sri Lanka were children of a millionaire spice merchant who grew up in luxury

But society should understand it is because they have much to lose that these terrorists are able to influence their constituency and inspire others

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Kumari Fernando, who lost her husband, Dulip Fernando, and two children, Dulakghi and Vimukthi, during the bombing at St Sebastian's Church. Photo: Reuters

Zachary Abuza is a professor at the National War College in Washington, DC, where he focuses on Southeast Asian politics and security issues.

Published: 5:30pm, 28 Apr 2019Updated: 5:19am, 29 Apr 2019

In the aftermath of the devastation of the Easter Bombings in Sri Lanka that killed more than 250 people, there has been widespread shock that two of the nine suicide bombers were the children of a millionaire spice merchant who grew up in luxury. Several of the bombers had studied abroad and their career prospects seemed bright.

This is not unusual. Psychologist Marc Sageman, writing about al-Qaeda, called terrorism a middle-class phenomenon. A 2016 Brookings Institution study showed that roughly 70 per cent of global recruits for Islamic State were middle class or wealthier. This is the trend we are seeing now across Asia.

Terrorist groups are ideological vanguards, usually far out ahead of their societies on issues that justify their violence. They tend to see the state as inherently violent towards their community, unwilling to defend their interests, or holding back the application of sharia law. Terrorists benefit from provoking a heavy-handed response from the state, that in turn vindicates them in the eyes of their constituents.

But the same groups are also representative of their societies with recruits from across the socio-economic and educational spectrum.