ASEAN ministers gather to explore antiterror pact
ASEAN ministers gather to explore antiterror pact
Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur
Southeast Asian security ministers began arriving here on Sunday for a special meeting to discuss the terror scare and to explore a regional pact to combat the scourge.
The home (interior) ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at a two-day session starting on Monday would seek to deepen cooperation among their law enforcement agencies and boost intelligence sharing, officials said.
But they would stop short of defining terrorism amid failure among senior officials at a preparatory meeting Saturday to agree on the matter, officials and reports said.
The proposal to define terrorism was made by host Malaysia, who wanted an ASEAN consensus to boost enforcement in the region.
But the New Sunday Times said the Malaysian proposal met with resistance from Singapore and the Philippines, both of whom are close allies of the United States.
It quoted diplomats as saying that the two countries feared that an Asian definition would make it cumbersome for them to act against new forms of terrorism in the future.
Myanmar's Col. Sit Aye, director of the international relations department, has described the definition as a "very controversial" issue, but said Myanmar would follow the consensus.
The Singapore home ministry's deputy secretary, Tan Boon Huat, told AFP that the ASEAN session was not a forum for intellectual debate but to "show the world that ASEAN is serious and we are looking at effective and practical means to deal with it."
"The question of definition is not really that important. We don't have to wait for a universally-accepted definition to act against terrorists, we know who they are," Tan said.
"It is not an impediment."
Tan said all 10 ASEAN nations have heightened security following the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States, and the region was no longer a "soft target" for potential terrorists.
"But ASEAN must remain ever vigilant because terrorism is something that will go on for a long time," he added.
Tan said a joint communique to be issued by the ministers Tuesday would be a "statement of commitments" to fight terror with new projects aimed at capability building and best practices in the region.
"It will be an endorsement from ASEAN ministers that the impetus to fight terror is maintained," he said.
The New Sunday Times said ASEAN ministers were expected to sign an anti-terrorism pact, mirroring a trilateral security agreement signed in Kuala Lumpur last week between Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
The trilateral pact sets out a framework for the countries to cooperate to combat terrorist groups and prevent them from using their assets for transnational crime.
ASEAN officials on Friday ended a two-day meeting on transnational crime here by agreeing to work toward harmonizing criminal laws, conduct joint exercises to boost law enforcement, and intelligence to combat terror.
ASEAN groups Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.