ASEAN told to make tougher laws to combat rise in transnational crimes

ASEAN told to make tougher laws to combat rise in transnational crimes

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The 24th General Assembly of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary
Organization (AIPO) concluded on Thursday with a call for
countries in the region to make tougher laws to combat the
increase in transnational crimes.

House Speaker Akbar Tandjung, who presided over AIPO this
year, handed over the organization's presidency to the leader of
the Cambodian delegation at the meeting's closing ceremony at
Mulia Hotel in Senayan on Thursday.

AIPO's next meeting will be held in September 2004 in
Cambodia.

The call to fight transnational crime was one of several
resolutions that were made during the four-day meeting.

"The resolutions will be brought home by all delegates to be
followed up and all parliaments in the region are expected to
pressure their own governments to implement them," Akbar said at
a press conference after the meeting's closing ceremony.

Akbar expressed his pessimism that all the resolutions made
during the meeting would be followed up by all delegations
because of different political systems among ASEAN-member
countries.

"AIPO meetings have issued numerous resolutions to cope with
common problems in the regions but none has been fully
implemented," he said.

Only eight of ten ASEAN members sent their delegations to the
meeting. The eight were Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, The
Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and host Indonesia. Brunei
Darussalam and Myanmar sent only observers.

Also attending the meeting were observers from Canada, China,
the European Union, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Papua New
Guinea and Russia.

Burhan Djabir Magenda, chairman of the committee on political
matters during the meeting, regretted that ASEAN countries were
slow to react to the increase in transnational crimes in the
region.

"The resolution is made to follow up the 30th ASEAN
Ministerial Meeting in Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur in July 1997 that
stressed the need for strong cooperation in addressing the
increase in transnational crimes such as terrorism, people and
drug trafficking, arms smuggling, piracy and money laundering,"
he said, citing that ASEAN countries were yet to have their own
laws to curb such crimes.

So far, ASEAN countries have discussed several times regional
cooperation but have yet to take concrete measures to combat the
transnational crimes in the field.

"We want all members to have their own measures so as to
enhance regional and bilateral technical cooperation to minimize
such crimes, especially terrorism, and people and drug
trafficking," he said.

Imam Addaruqutni, chairman of the committee on economic
matters, said his committee proposed two resolutions adopted in
the plenary session. They are ASEAN common legislation to
implement the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) that has begun since
early this year and on economic cooperation and comprehensive
partnership between ASEAN and East Asia.

Imam said the delegates from Thailand proposed the
establishment of an ASEAN Parliament, but delegates from other
countries needed more time for further discussion in their own
countries before making a decision to accept the proposal or not.