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.