Security back on ASEAN agenda

The Nation, Asia News Network, Bangkok

Trips by Thai leaders to Southeast Asian countries took on a certain predictability in the past decade. The objective was nearly always to improve trade and economic links, while a secondary importance was attached to issues such as border demarcation and territorial problems. Security and intelligence co-operation -- issues that were the glue for ASEAN during the Cold War years -- were rarely on the agenda.

That has apparently changed since Sept. 11. Moves to strengthen intelligence-sharing were at the center of talks during Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's recent visit to Indonesia, mirroring increased anti-terrorism cooperation elsewhere in the region.

The moves are welcome and come amid concern that al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups may be shifting some of their operations to Southeast Asia now that they are being forced from Afghanistan and their traditional safe havens.

There is also evidence that indigenous groups throughout the region, such as Abu Sayyaf, are increasing their own links. The involvement of Malaysian extremists in church bombings in Indonesia is a case in point.

During Thaksin's Indonesia trip, Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai denied that southern Thai Muslims had been supplying arms to Muslim rebels in Aceh but there is enough evidence that terrorists, even if they are not basing themselves in Thailand, are frequently traveling through Bangkok and the South.

There have been, for example, reports that al-Qaeda associates of the Sept. 11 hijackers visited Bangkok in the last two years. Last year in Italy, a suspected al-Qaeda member was arrested trying to stow away in a container aboard a ship bound for Toronto. According to a Toronto Sun article, the suspect was carrying an airline mechanic's certificate and had security passes for airports in Canada, Egypt and Thailand.

It is easy enough to understand why extremist organizations have set their eyes on the region, which offers terrorists porous borders, loose banking and money systems, easily available weapons and counterfeit documents, as well as sympathizers within the local populations.

It is evident that there are gaping holes in the national security and immigration-screening procedures that need to be fixed. The danger such groups pose to Thailand and the region is clear, ranging from their inherent threat to the lives of individuals and to national security as a whole, to territorial integrity through the training of local extremists, and to their potential to infiltrate and corrupt business sectors and disrupt the economy.

In the past, ASEAN members have been reluctant to share intelligence information, but this is changing. Thailand must be careful in deciding which groups deserve the label of "terrorist". Many of the groups described by the various governments in Southeast Asia as enemies of the state do in fact have legitimate gripes they pursue in a non-violent manner.

The first order though must be for Thailand to get its own house in order. Terrorists must not be allowed any kind of presence in the country.