Hassan calls on Singapore to join antiterrorism treaty
Hassan calls on Singapore to join antiterrorism treaty
Berni K. Moestafa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Foreign minister Hassan Wirayuda called on Singapore on Monday
to be consistent with its outspokenness against terrorism and
join an antiterrorism pact with fellow ASEAN countries.
Cambodia and Thailand have recently joined the antiterrorism
pact between Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia, and Hassan
said Singapore should have no problem following suit.
"We encourage Singapore which has been vocal in talking about
terrorism to join," he said following the installation of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nation's (ASEAN) new secretary-
general Ong Keng Yong on Monday.
"If Singapore is consistent with what it says, I think there
shouldn't be any difficulty for Singapore to be a member of the
pact," Hassan said.
Signed in May last year, the antiterrorism agreement centers
on intelligence sharing and cross-border operations.
Indonesia and the Philippines are both grappling with domestic
terrorist groups, and although Malaysia has been relative safe, a
number of militants have been known to have found shelter there.
During Hassan's recent visit to Manila, Indonesia and the
Philippines agreed to extend the agreement to the rest of the
ASEAN members: Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei Darussalam,
Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos.
"We hope that Singapore will be joining us soon," Hassan said.
The city state has been a staunch campaigner against terrorism
since Sept. 11, and once warned that Indonesia would become a
breeding ground for terrorists unless it took strong actions to
eradicate terrorism.
The Oct. 12 Bali bombing last year added to the urgency for
greater regional cooperation in the fight against terrorism.
Police here have named two Malaysian suspects in connection with
the bombing and they believe that the group Jamaah Islamyiah (JI)
had played a role in it.
JI aims to establish a Southeast Asian Islamic state covering
Indonesia, Singapore Malaysia and the Philippines.
Police here have linked several Indonesians to JI and the
group is said to also have bases in Singapore and Malaysia.
Singapore has arrested 31 alleged members of JI and is due to
publish a white paper on the organization this week. The city-
state once did express interest in signing the pact, saying it
would like to study it.
The antiterror pact allows members to join antiterrorism
exercises, combined operations to hunt suspected terrorists, the
setting up of hotlines and sharing of airline passenger lists.
Asked what he thought was deterring Singapore from joining the
pact, Hassan cited overlapping points under the pact and an ASEAN
committee on transnational crime.
"But I don't think this (the overlapping) should diminish the
need to join the agreement," Hassan said. "The overlapping in
certain matters actually reinforces it."
The committee on transnational crime covers piracy and money
laundering aside from terrorism.
"I think all the 10 ASEAN countries have already accepted that
this (terrorism) is a very serious threat to the stability and
the economic development of the region," ASEAN secretary-general
Ong told reporters.
A former spokesman for Singapore's foreign ministry, Ong said
Singapore was very cooperative on terrorism issues but that most
of these agreements with foreign agencies were confidential.
"Even without the trilateral agreement we are all cooperating;
everyone in ASEAN," he said.
"We will see if it's necessary to have an agreement, an ASEAN
framework to cooperate, I think we will work toward that. But at
the moment we must encourage more exchange of information and
direct contacts among police," he said.