Brunei postpones plans to sign regional antiterror pact
Brunei postpones plans to sign regional antiterror pact
Agence France-Presse, Phnom Penh
Brunei put off plans at the last minute on Monday to accede to a
Southeast Asian agreement to help combat the terrorism threat in
the region, citing legal problems.
"We need a little more time due to domestic legal procedures
to be resolved," a Brunei official said minutes before the
scheduled accession of the kingdom to the Agreement on
Information Exchange and Establishment of Communication
Procedures.
The pact focuses on sharing intelligence, resources and
personnel to fight terrorism.
Host Cambodia had made preparations for the signing ceremony
after the opening of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) foreign ministers' meeting here on Monday, where
terrorism has been a key topic.
Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia first forged the pact
in May last year -- focused on sharing intelligence, resources
and personnel to fight terrorism -- before Cambodia and Thailand
acceded to the agreement later.
"In principle, we are ready to sign," the Brunei official
said, without elaborating on the local legal issues that had
cropped up.
He said Brunei would be able to resolve the legal problems
before the ASEAN summit in Bali later this year.
The other ASEAN states that have not acceded to the pact are
Singapore, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar.
Singapore has also said it wants to study the agreement "quite
carefully to see that we comply with all the legal requirements".
Singapore has bilateral security arrangements with Indonesia,
the Philippines and Malaysia.
Arrests in recent weeks in Cambodia and Thailand of alleged
members of regional terror network Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), which
is blamed for last October's Bali bombings, have brought the
threat of an attack in Southeast Asia back into the spotlight.
Officials said ASEAN and the United States are soon to endorse
a five-point counter-terrorism work plan that could see American
help to safeguard shipping in the vital Malacca Strait and the
sharing of intelligence information.