FPDA to expand to counter terrorist threat

FPDA to expand to counter terrorist threat

Karl Malakunas, Agence France-Presse/Singapore

A 33-year-old defense agreement between Singapore, Malaysia,
Britain, Australia and New Zealand will be expanded to deal with
terrorism and other "unconventional threats", the governments of
the five nations said here Monday.

The restructured Five Power Defense Arrangement (FPDA),
established in 1971 to boost Malaysia and Singapore's defence
capabilities, will particularly focus on maritime security,
Singapore Defense Minister Teo Chee Hean said.

"The FPDA continues to recognize new challenges in the
regional security environment and has the flexibility to adapt to
them," Teo told a joint press conference with his counterparts
from the other four nations after they held informal talks in
Singapore.

"Hence the ministers at this meeting agreed the FPDA should
incorporate non-conventional threat scenarios such as maritime
security."

The issue of maritime security has assumed increasing
importance in Southeast Asia amid growing concerns that the
Malacca Strait, a narrow shipping channel vital to world
commerce, is extremely vulnerable to terrorist attacks.

About half the world's oil and a third of the globe's trade
passes through the pirate-infested, 900-kilometer strait, which
lies between Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.

Teo said the new focus on unconventional threats would begin
as early as October, when the five nations hold their annual
exercises in the South China Sea.

Asked if these exercises would include mock situations of
dealing with hijacked boats in the Malacca Strait, Teo replied:
"Yes, certainly."

"These are the kinds of exercises we would be conducting...
there will be anti-hijack exercises, there will be surveillance
exercises (and) exchange of knowledge on peacekeeping," he said.

The five-nation agreement has previously focused on
traditional military threats, which Malaysian Defense Minister
Najib Razak has said were fast receding in the region.

Najib stressed at Monday's media briefing that the expanded
agreement would cater solely for "capacity building" and did not
allow for direct, joint anti-terrorist activities.

"The whole essence of the FPDA is the emphasis on capacity
building, on training exercises, on exchange of intelligence
information, on building up our technical knowledge and
expertise," Najib said.

"There is also a general understanding that, when it comes to
terrorism, it is incumbent upon the country concerned to treat it
as a domestic matter, particularly when it comes to the actual
execution of the intended mission or operation."

Malaysia has vocally opposed any suggestion of foreign forces
being used to help patrol the Malacca Strait after the United
States floated a plan in April to have U.S. forces help secure
the waterway.

The United States has since said it did not intend to involve
U.S. troops in anti-terrorist operations in Southeast Asia's
waters and that its maritime security initiative for the region
focused mainly on intelligence sharing.

Although the five-nation arrangement is being expanded in its
scope, Teo said there were no plans to increase its membership.

"Members expressed satisfaction with the current membership of
FPDA. It's a group of like-minded countries which is able to
carry out exercises, capacity building and activities," he said.

Australian Defense Minister Robert Hill and his New Zealand
counterpart, Mark Burton, as well as Britain's minister of state
for the armed forces, Adam Ingram, also attended the meeting.

They were all in Singapore for the three-day Asia Security
Conference, a forum for 200 defense ministers, government
officials and analysts, that ended on Sunday.