Unity against terrorism

Cross-border terrorism is like a cancer. Individual action by some countries will only strike a portion of it and like a cancerous cell, it will rear its ugly head in other places. For the scourge to be excised completely, joint action by the countries in the region is an imperative.

This explains why the move by ASEAN to link anti-terrorism activities among member countries and co-ordinate with one another is seen as a vital requisite to both homeland and regional security.

As it is, there have been unsavory reports on the alleged terrorist cells in some member countries with ties to Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. This has bestowed the region with the unwanted sobriquet of a haven for Muslim militancy. Malaysia too has been subjected to vilification by sections of the U.S.-controlled media. Such negative portrayals threaten to devastate the region's tourism industry and deter the much-needed foreign investment.

This underscores the increasing importance of a joint counter- terrorism effort, one that must be deepened in terms of strategies and enlarge the relations among the countries in a manner perhaps unimaginable in the days of the founding fathers. No country can go at it alone.

The lack of gumption by one will impede another's efforts to extinguish the terrorists and the seeds that conceive such terror -- the misguided fanatics and deviationists. Indonesia is soft on its militants, some who tried to inspire fanaticism, fuel Osama- type fervor and violate the laws of the neighboring countries. Difficult as it is to oversee an archipelago of 13,677 islands, Indonesia must exert tighter administrative reins in tackling the menace of terrorism and in ensuring its citizens respect the borders of other countries.

That said, the strategic co-operation and relations among ASEAN members are assuming a new and significant dimension: one which perhaps necessitates a relook at, or at least, a re- modification of its long cherished non-interference stand.

-- New Straits Times, Kuala Lumpur