SE Asia will win terrorism war: Goh

SE Asia will win terrorism war: Goh

Eileen Ng, Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur

Singapore's Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong appealed on Tuesday to foreign investors to stay in Southeast Asia despite growing terrorism risks, saying the region would win the war in the long term.

Goh said Southeast Asian countries had been candid in acknowledging "rising terrorist threats" in the region and must now convince investors that "we are on top of the problem."

"Investors in capital are cowards. At the first sign of trouble, they run away because they look at the bottomline," he said on the final day of the World Economic Forum's East Asia Economic Summit.

"I am going to tell them this: Don't run away, stay with us and have confidence in us that we are working together to lick this problem."

Goh said terrorist groups in the region could not survive in the long-run against the might of the United States and its allies.

"It is my strong conviction that the terrorists are not going to win. In the short-term, they could cause problems for us but in the medium-term, the long-term, we will win," he added.

Singapore and neighboring Malaysia have over the past year detained dozens of Islamic militants said to belong to the Jemaah Islamiyah group accused of planning attacks on Western targets, the overthrow of governments and the establishment of a regional Islamic state.

The group reportedly has links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

Goh told reporters later that it was crucial for the international community to engage the support of moderate Muslims in Southeast Asia as terrorist groups from Afghanistan and the Middle East could shift their operations to the region.

"It is not only a temporary refuge... we may see this area as being their next stage of operation," he said.

"We think that it is not something that will go away. Unless we defeat them, they are going to defeat us and we cannot allow that."

Singapore, a key U.S. ally in Southeast Asia in the fight against global terrorism, has so far detained 31 terrorist suspects and Malaysia 63.

Goh told the summit earlier that Singapore was initially "shocked" to discover terrorist cells on the island and was even "more shocked" to discover that Singapore interests were also being targeted.

"But the leaders were from outside Singapore, the terrorists in Singapore were mere footsoldiers," he said.

Singapore, along with Malaysia, has identified alleged two Indonesians, Riduan Isamuddin also known as Hambali, and cleric Abubakar Ba'asyir as leaders of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).

Hambali's whereabouts are unknown, but Abubakar Ba'asyir lives openly in Indonesia and denies any link to terrorism.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, has come under fire for not doing enough to curb terrorism but Goh said Jakarta's hands were tied as it said it lacked evidence against Ba'asyir.

"The leaders... are wise people in Indonesia. They made it more difficult for the Indonesia government without any evidence of wrongdoings to move against them but that doesn't mean they are not creating problems for others outside Indonesia," he said.

On the other hand, Goh said Indonesia was "ill-equipped" to tackle the terrorism threat as its parliament had not passed an anti-terrorism bill and the government lacked the resources to move quickly.

"It is a complex issue but our sense is that the Indonesian government is aware that they have to do something," he said.

Economic improvement in Indonesia, backed by a stable exchange rate, has fueled hopes that Jakarta could now "move forward" to tackle its financial woes and subsequently rising Islamic extremism, he added.