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.