ASEAN armies vow to fight terrorism, illegal arms
ASEAN armies vow to fight terrorism, illegal arms
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Army chiefs from Southeast Asian nations began on Monday talks on
joint efforts to combat terrorism and illegal arms trafficking
that have plagued the region in recent years.
Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Gen. Endriartono Sutarto
suggested that the fifth annual meeting focus on a joint
cooperation to crack down on groups with paramilitary training
camps for terrorism purposes.
"Incidents like the one in Russia (Beslan, North Ossetia) must
not take place in this region," Endriartono said after receiving
army commanders from the nine other Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries participating in the
meeting at the Hilton Hotel in Central Jakarta.
He was referring to the school hostage-taking by terrorists,
which ended on Friday with at least 335 people killed, mostly
children, in Beslan in the southern Russian republic of North
Ossetia.
"We also must step up efforts to curb rampant, illicit arms
trafficking, as we believe that such activities have contributed
to the armed rebellions in Aceh province and separatist movements
in the Philippines," Endriartono said.
Also attending the talks were Indonesian Army chief Gen.
Ryamizard Ryacudu, Dato Sri Pahlawan Moh. Azumi bin Muhamad from
Malaysia, Chasif Sinawatra from Thailand, Eifen L. Abo of the
Philippines, Desmond Kwek from Singapore, Nguyen Nang Nguyen from
Vietnam, Kenekhum Shengyehone from Laos, Dato Paduka Abdurrahman
from Brunei, Meas Sophea from Cambodia and Mauraq Aye from
Myanmar.
Ryamizard said the meeting, which will close on Tuesday, was
aimed at upholding "solidarity among the ASEAN countries in
facing terror threats" in addition to improving the
professionalism of soldiers.
He said the army chiefs had come to an agreement to set up a
joint command post and hold regular training sessions for
soldiers to improve their capability in combating terrorism.
The talks on joint cooperation to deal with terrorist threats
had surfaced last year when the army chiefs met for the fourth
meeting in Malaysia, Ryamizard said.
Multilateral military cooperation in the region materialized
in June when the navies of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore
formed a joint patrol in the Strait of Malacca to fight the
rampant piracy attacks in the world's busiest waterway. The so-
called coordinated patrol was launched in response to the United
States' plan for a security arrangement to prevent terrorist
attacks that might target ships in the strait.
Southeast Asia has witnessed a series of terrorist attacks
over the past few years, including the Bali bombings on Oct. 12,
2002.
Several of the convicted terrorists in the Bali blasts are
believed to have undergone training in camps in the southern
Philippines run by the Al-Qaeda-linked Jamaah Islamiyah (JI)
regional terror network.
Indonesia was rocked by another attack in August 2003 when a
JI suicide bomber struck the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta,
leaving 12 people dead.
JI has been blamed for those and other attacks across
Southeast Asia. Its chief operations man, Riduan Ishamuddin,
alias Hambali was captured in Thailand shortly after the JW
Marriott bombing.