Pacific nations unite vs. terrorists
The Jakarta Post, Denpasar
Asia-Pacific nations agreed on Thursday to intensify cooperation in fighting terrorism in the region and to create common legal mechanisms that would make it easier to prosecute and extradite suspected terrorists.
They also set up two working groups -- law enforcement and legal framework -- to bolster evidence and intelligence sharing, encourage extradition treaties and improve cooperation among the police forces of the Asia-Pacific region.
Indonesia, which has been struck by several terrorist attacks since December 2000, is to chair the law enforcement working group, which is tasked with conducting information sharing and exchanging operational experiences, crime data and intelligence.
The legal framework working group, on the other hand, is to be led by Australia. The group will be responsible for identifying areas for improvement and assistance in order to strengthen regional legal framework.
"... including the areas of mutual legal assistance and extradition for terrorist related offenses, implementation of UN Security Council resolutions and UN counterterrorism related conventions," Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said at the end of a two-day regional conference on counterterrorism in Bali on Thursday.
Ministers and other senior officials from more than two dozen nations -- including U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft -- convened in a heavily guarded beach resort in Nusa Dua, Bali on Wednesday and Thursday and resolved to give a transnational response to a transnational threat.
They also urged states to improve maritime and aviation security, stop the flow of terrorist funding and prevent the illegal movement of nuclear, chemical and biological materials, the statement said.
The agreements, however, fell short of enacting more far- reaching proposals that proponents say would be most effective in fighting terrorism, such as establishing a regional police force or a region-wide extradition treaty.
Last July, terror suspect Mas Selamat Kastari, who is accused by Singapore of plotting to crash a plane into Changi airport, was sent to prison in Indonesia for 18 months for immigration offenses. The two neighbors have no extradition agreement.
The ministers also called on states to take measures "to prevent terrorists from acquiring weapons of mass destruction, their means of delivery and materials and technologies related to their manufacture".
Delegates said the Bali conference served as an opportunity to keep the terrorism issue at the top of government agendas.
"We may not achieve 100 percent of our objectives, but without talking we may achieve zero," Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said.
Downer on Wednesday said more terror attacks were "inevitable," and urged delegates to build on the police crackdown and scores of arrests that have damaged the al-Qaeda- linked Jamaah Islamiyah terrorist group, blamed for the Bali attack and others.
"Jamaah Islamiyah has been using Southeast Asian countries that have open societies like Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines ... to move around," said Thailand's Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sorajak Kasemsuvan.
In an interview with AP, he said last August's arrest of Hambali, Jamaah Islamiyah's purported operations chief, was the result of "very good" intelligence sharing among different governments.
Ashcroft, meanwhile, urged senior Asia-Pacific officials to boost cooperation but stopped short of offering Indonesia what it most wants -- access to Asia's leading terror suspect, Hambali, now in American custody.
Underscoring the continued threat of terrorism in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country, officials announced on Thursday that police on the island of Sulawesi had seized 19 bombs and five homemade firearms earlier this week.