Arroyo's initiative

Arroyo's initiative

If nothing else, the visit of the Philippines' president,
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, to Jakarta has resulted in some concrete
agreements on fighting global terrorism and sharing intelligence
information on transnational crimes. The original idea for this
was aired in a number of capitals of member countries of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) after the
September 11 attacks in the United States. It was also discussed
during the recent ASEAN summit in Brunei Darussalam.

Although we have come to accept that fresh ideas and plans for
regional cooperation on new ventures usually take time before
they become reality, nevertheless, as regards fighting global
terrorism in the Southeast Asian region, we would urge the ASEAN
leaders to act with speed. The Philippine president's statement
on Monday that "we need to prevent terrorism in our region if we
want trade and investment to flourish" is indeed quite fitting.

Indonesian military and police officials have been saying that
there is indeed some connection between the disturbances in some
parts of Indonesia and what is occurring in the southern
Philippines, Malaysia and the southern provinces of Thailand. It
has already been announced that the army chiefs of the 10 member
states of ASEAN will meet in Manila this week to discuss military
cooperation in combating terrorism.

It so happens that Admiral Dennis Blair, commander-in-chief of
the U.S. Pacific Command, arrived in Manila on Monday at the
start of a regional tour. Given the urgency of putting in place a
regional cooperation plan to combat global terrorism, let us hope
that the presence of Admiral Blair will speed up U.S. assistance
in terms of providing the necessary military hardware, the
setting up of sophisticated communications linkages, the training
of specialists in antiterrorism warfare and the provision of
operational funding when needed.

ASEAN countries, after experiencing the monetary crisis of
1997 and its aftermath, are generally beset by weakened economies
with the result that in the last number of years the capabilities
of their military and police forces have also deteriorated. To
put in place an effective coordinated regional effort to combat
global terrorism, a speeding up of U.S. assistance should be
arranged.

Furthermore, we see President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as the
regional leader in continuously prodding the ASEAN countries to
maintain a determined effort in their antiterrorist actions. She
is in a natural position to continue to remind the Bush
administration in Washington that although Southeast Asia is not
in the forefront of this war against global terrorism,
considering the strategic importance of the region, it should not
be taken for granted.