SE Asian states form antiterror committee
SE Asian states form antiterror committee
Agence France-Presse, Manila
The Philippines, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand on
Thursday agreed to form a joint committee that will boost
multilateral cooperation against terrorism and other
transnational crimes.
The decision to create the committee came at the end of a
three-day security conference in Manila that was aimed at fine-
tuning multilateral responses to terrorism hosted by the
Philippines' National Security Adviser Roilo Golez.
The committee will provide "policy guidance" in the
implementation of projects and establish a framework for
cooperation in exchanging information and setting up
communication procedures in the fight against terrorism.
Aside from terrorism, the joint committee will also handle
other crimes like "piracy, money laundering, smuggling and gun-
running," Golez said in a statement.
He did not say if this joint committee would have a permanent
headquarters and where it would be located.
Golez earlier said security chiefs in the region were mulling
the creation of an ASEAN center where intelligence information on
threats could be assessed.
Regional security chiefs will also meet in Jakarta next Monday
to discuss proposals for a joint-task force aimed at combating
terrorism, Indonesian National Police Secretary for Interpol,
Brig. Gen. Nanan Sukarna, said.
The three-day meeting would hopefully produce "a mechanism for
a joint task force that can investigate terror-related crimes and
agree on a procedure for the extradition of terror suspects"
among 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) as well as from other nations, Sukarna said.
The five Southeast Asian nations who took part in the Manila
exercise forged an anti-terror pact last year, binding them to
boost intelligence cooperation to fight terrorism. The five are
all ASEAN members along with Brunei, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore and
Vietnam.
Those left out from the committee acted as observers but had
shown "keen interest" in joining the region's counter-terrorism
pact, Golez said.
The terrorist bombings in Bali, Indonesia last year and a
spate of attacks in the Philippines have highlighted the need for
greater cooperation to crack down on suspected terrorist groups
in the region who are believed to have formed links for attacks
across borders.
Singapore last week linked the southern Philippines-based
Muslim separatist group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to
the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) terror group, which has been blamed for
the Bali attack.
Regional authorities said the JI's ultimate aim was to
establish a caliphate comprising Malaysia, Indonesia, southern
Philippines and Singapore.