Japan and Hong Kong are on holiday today.

Half an hour after trade started in Indonesia, and the JKSE (Jakarta Stock Exchange) is down 7% in a knee jerk reaction to the Bali bombing on Saturday night. Indonesian and travel related stocks in Asia Pacific markets are also down, including tourist related stocks like Qantas in Australia. Countries with significant Muslim populations like Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines are down this Monday despite the good showing in the USA on Friday.

As suggested in Sunday's Hari Ini item, strong suspicion for the Bali bombings has now fallen on a regional South East Asian extremist Islamic group who aim to create an Islam state throughout South East Asia.

Countries like the US, Singapore and Malaysia should not be so quick to tell Indonesia "I told you so". Such an attack could easily occur in Malaysia and Singapore, though both countries, which do not boast such a high proportion of Muslim population, have been more aggressive in the War Against Terror in their own country. Certainly tourists and expatriates, especially those who frequent Western oriented business and entertainment establishments throughout South East Asian need to be on a higher level of alert.

From here in Thailand, often seen as a refuge from the problems of Muslim South East Asia, it is a lesson that terrorism can hit the most tolerant and magical paradises. Thailand has a large Muslim population in Southern provinces, and local extremists to go along with it, resulting in several lower profile bombings over the past few years. Such groups in Thailand want to secede from predominantly Buddhist Thailand. Phuket, perhaps the most well known tourist destination in South East Asia, has a substantial Muslim population, but that may well be a blessing. So far, the two major terrorist targets (New York and Bali), are not Muslim strongholds.