Three SE Asian countries sign anti-terrorism pact
Three SE Asian countries sign anti-terrorism pact
Jalil Hamid, Reuters, Kuala Lumpur
Three countries with the largest Muslim populations in Southeast
Asia signed a pact on Tuesday to counter terrorism and crush a
militant network they say is bent on turning all three into a
single Islamic state.
"It is an important step we have taken together as part of our
commitment to combat terrorism," Indonesian Foreign Minister
Hassan Wirajuda told journalists after signing the accord with
his counterparts from Malaysia and the Philippines.
Militancy among Muslims in Southeast Asia came under the
microscope after Washington led a global war on terrorism in the
aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation, while
Malaysia is also largely Islamic. Roman Catholic Philippines has
been for years battling separatist struggles by small groups of
Muslim rebels in the country's south.
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and visiting
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo witnessed the
signing of the trilateral accord by foreign ministers from the
three countries at the new administrative capital of Putrajaya.
"We formalized formal contacts in one umbrella agreement to
cover quite a number of areas of cooperation not only in the area
of terrorism proper, but also expanding it into piracy as well as
money laundering," he said.
The busy international shipping lanes off the three countries
are plagued by pirates and are among the world's most dangerous.
A joint statement said the pact would allow anti-terrorism
exercises as well as combined operations to hunt suspected
terrorists, the setting up of hotlines and sharing of airline
passenger lists.
"I think this is good because we can exchange the information
about the movement and the activities of these people," Mahathir
told reporters earlier.
"As you know, these people have this idea of creating what
they called a single Islamic state out of Malaysia, Indonesia and
the Philippines," he said after opening a meeting of the
Organization of the Islamic Conference's religious ministers.
"But what is their Islamic state I don't know, because I
haven't seen them do anything except do a lot of damage to
people, carry out a lot of terrorist attacks," Mahathir said.
In the past year Malaysia has arrested dozens of suspects,
while U.S. troops are helping Filipinos combat Abu Sayyaf
guerrillas and rescue an American missionary couple held for
almost a year.
Indonesia has drawn criticism over a lack of arrests although
neighbors, notably Singapore, say the ringleaders of a network
are based there. Jakarta is now planning to beef up anti-
terrorism laws.
The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
agreed last November to cooperate to fight terrorism.
But Tuesday's trilateral pact, which follows four months of
talks, cements cooperation between three member countries with
strong ethnic links, large Muslim populations and porous borders.
"This agreement is signed by three countries and it is also
open for other ASEAN members to join in," Wirajuda said.
The mostly Chinese island state of Singapore, wedged between
Malaysia and Indonesia says it is willing to step up cooperation
with its neighbors.
Thailand, and possibly Myanmar, may join the pact later,
officials said.
Singapore arrested members of a militant cell in December that
it said was planning attacks on U.S. targets on the island. It
discovered links with al-Qaeda, the network run by Osama bin
Laden, Washington's prime suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks.
In April, Manila seized two Muslim guerrillas they said had
been trained in bomb-making in Malaysia.