ASEAN political inertia hampers antiterror drive

ASEAN political inertia hampers antiterror drive

Martin Abbugao, Agence France-Presse, Singapore

ASEAN's cumbersome way of reaching decisions by consensus and
policy of non-interference in internal affairs is hampering
regional efforts to combat terrorism, security analysts said here
on Sunday.

While progress has been made through multinational cooperation
in areas such as police and military intelligence and border
controls, fundamental policies among members of the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations were preventing greater success, they
said.

"The traditional ASEAN way of seeking a consensus on all
important policy decisions is an obstacle to effective regionwide
cooperation in combating terrorism," Australian Strategic Policy
Institute chairman Robert O'Neil said.

"So also is the strong ASEAN tradition of non-intervention in
internal affairs (of member states)."

O'Neil was summarizing the results of closed-door discussions
on regional terrorism at the second annual Asian Security
Conference that groups defense ministers, armed forces chiefs and
academics from 20 countries.

Indonesian Defense Minister Matori Abdul Djalil, Philippine
Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes and a senior Thai defense official
were the key speakers at the private session on Saturday.

O'Neil said another hindrance was that since the 10 ASEAN
states experienced different levels of terrorist threats, some
were more focused on local solutions.

So far only the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia have
agreed to be part of a regional terrorism accord.

Thailand and Cambodia have indicated their intention to join,
but other ASEAN members have wanted to see first how the pact was
implemented before joining.

"Bureaucratic inertia is also at work as is the special ASEAN
way of taking decisions, plus the preference for each member
country of introducing a local solution," O'Neil said.

However Indonesian security analyst Jusuf Wanandi put the
issue more bluntly to the conference.

"The problem is really political will and the willingness to
really put a lot of hard work and resources. The facade is always
sensitivity, sovereignty and all the bull," Wanandi said.

One view commonly held was that the terrorism threat was
growing in the region and that Indonesia, ASEAN's biggest member
and the world's most populous Muslim nation, must succeed in
consolidating democratic reforms if the anti-terror drive is to
work.

"Indonesia should be the focus of these efforts. If Indonesia
succeeds in consolidating a pluralist democracy, it will be the
world's third largest and the largest in the Muslim world," said
O'Neil, quoting a paper by Angel Rabasa, a senior policy analyst
with U.S.-based think-tank RAND.

Rabasa's paper said "moderate political Islam could be an
antidote to bureaucratic ideologies and concepts of intolerance
and exclusion" advocated by religious extremists.

Southeast Asia has around 250 million Muslims, or 20 percent
of the world's total.

While the majority of the region's Muslims are moderates,
there are concerns of a rising trend of radicalism with the
presence of extremist groups such as Jamaah Islamiyah, which has
been blamed for last year's bomb attacks in the Indonesian resort
of Bali.

More than 200 people, including many Australians, were killed
when bombs exploded outside a nightclub packed with tourists in
Bali.

Australian Defense Minister Robert Hill told the conference
progress had been made in fighting regional terrorism, citing the
cooperation between regional intelligence and police authorities
following the Bali attack.

"All ministers are confident that the only effective way to
tackle the threat of terrorism is through cooperation between
states and determination to fight it until we are successful,"
Hill told reporters after the conference.

"I am more confident now that we will ultimately succeed in
that regard than I was a year ago."

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.