Cooperation vital to security, trade

Cooperation vital to security, trade

SINGAPORE: The attacks on the United States and the threat of
terror in Southeast Asia make global cooperation vital to ensure
security and economic health, Singapore Deputy Prime Minister
Tony Tan said on Sunday.

Singapore and neighboring Malaysia have dealt with the rise of
homegrown militancy by arresting dozens of suspects accused of
links to Muslim radicals in Indonesia and Afghanistan.

On Monday, dozens of academics and regional government
officials will discuss issues ranging from the strategic
environment to trends in military modernization.

Singapore is also hosting a four-day Asian aerospace
conference and exhibition from Tuesday which will focus heavily
on security and defense in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on
the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. --Reuters

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Aglance-Malaysia-RP
Philippines, Malaysia cooperate to extradite top Filipino
criminal
JP/9/ASEAN

KL to extradite top Filipino criminal

MALAYSIA: Malaysian police were cooperating with their
Philippines counterparts to extradite a top Filipino criminal who
was arrested here, Philippine Ambassador Jose Brillantes said on
Sunday.

Noel Nericueco, 39, is the alleged leader of a gang that
Philippine authorities say carried out several contract killings
in the past decade. He fled the Philippines several years ago.

A top Filipino police officer based in Kuala Lumpur said that
Nericueo, who is a fugitive in the Philippines, was arrested by
Malaysian police last week in northern Penang state.

The official said Manila had made a request to Malaysian
police to extradite Nericueco, adding that the suspect was wanted
for a series of murders, swindles and rapes in the Philippines.
--AFP

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Aglance-Cambodia-refugees
UN says Cambodia, Vietnam undermining refugee deal
JP/9/ASEAN

Cambodia, Vietnam cripple refugee deal

CAMBODIA: The United Nations and the U.S. on Sunday accused
Vietnam and Cambodia of undermining an agreement to voluntarily
repatriate asylum seekers fleeing Vietnam's restive Central
Highlands.

The two Southeast Asian governments on Friday announced an
April 30 deadline for returning ethnic minorities to Vietnam
during a controversial trip by Vietnamese officials to a UN
refugee camp in Cambodia.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said the
deadline jeopardized the "voluntariness" of returns and the
United States labeled it as bid to marginalize the world body.

Police in Cambodia used electric shock batons to subdue
several asylum seekers who verbally objected to going back to
Vietnam during the visit, rights activists and witnesses said.

More than 1,000 Vietnamese minority people, most of them
members of Christian hilltribes who supported the United States
during the Vietnam War, are housed in two UN-run facilities in
Cambodia. --Reuters

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Aglance-Malaysia-S'pore
Singapore land reclamation should not encroach on Malaysian terri
JP/9/ASEAN

KL worried about S'pore land reclamation

MALAYSIA: Kuala Lumpur hopes neighboring Singapore's land
reclamation program will not encroach on its territory, Deputy
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said on Sunday.

"Singapore's land reclamation activity is getting closer to
Malaysia's border. What they do within their borders is their
affair," he told reporters.

"But what is important is they do not encroach into our
territory."

The Berita Harian newspaper, a Malay-language daily, Sunday
reported that Singapore was carrying out reclamation works that
could disrupt the water flow of the Tebrau Strait off Malaysia's
southernmost state Johor. Malaysia and Singapore are separated by
the narrow Strait of Johor. --AFP

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Aglance-RP-People Power
Left-wing groups to use 'people power' anniversary to protest
U.S.
JP/9/ASEAN

Left-wing groups to use 'people power'

PHILIPPINES: Left-wing groups said on Sunday they will use the
anniversary of the "people power" revolution that ousted dictator
Ferdinand Marcos 16 years ago to protest a counterterrorism
exercise involving U.S. troops in the southern Philippines.

Hundreds of activists plan to march in front of the heavily
guarded U.S. Embassy compound in Manila to protest the exercise
aimed at improving the Philippine military's capability to
destroy Abu Sayyaf rebels holding an American missionary couple
hostage.

Leftist groups have held small but almost daily protests
against the war exercise, which they say violates a
constitutional prohibition on the presence of foreign troops.

They have criticized Arroyo for her strong support for U.S.
military involvement in Philippine counterterrorism efforts,
calling her an "Am-girl." --AP