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Malaysia,
Indonesia, Singapore & Thailand Agree To Unite In Fight Against Terrorism
By
Kazi Mahmood, IOL Southeast Asia correspondent
JAKARTA,
Feb. 20 (IslamOnline) Bilateral cooperation between South East Asian
countries is taking significance importance with Malaysia, Singapore,
Thailand and Indonesia joining forces in the fight against terrorism in the
region, news reports said on Wednesday.
Malaysia
and Indonesia agreed on Tuesday to cooperate more closely to combat regional
terror networks while Singapore disclosed on the same day that it was
seeking greater cooperation with Thailand on the issue of terrorism.
The
agreement on fighting terrorism came at a two-day meeting of the
Malaysia-Indonesia Joint Commission headed by Malaysian Foreign Affairs
Minister Syed Hamid Albar and his Indonesian counterpart Hassan Wirayuda.
Indonesia
sent its top detective to Kuala Lumpur for talks with his local counter
parts in Malaysia on how bilateral cooperation could help the two countries
battle terrorist groups.
Inspector
General Engkesmen Hilep planned to meet several top Malaysian police
officers to discuss terrorism.
He
is also due to visit Singapore and the Philippines to tackle issues related
to the suspected role of Indonesians in terror networks.
Malaysian
police have detained at least five Indonesians suspected of having links to
local Islamic extremists in the Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia (KMM) and other
terror networks, including Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda.
The
government has suggested the KMM has links with militants in Indonesia and
the Philippines and together they hoped to create Islamic states in the
region.
Malaysia
has also identified three Indonesian preachers as responsible for religious
and militant indoctrination within the KMM.
Meanwhile
Singapore called on (South East Asian Nations) Asean members on Tuesday to
combat terrorism in the region as it posed a threat to foreign investment,
which has been flagging.
Visiting
Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong to Bangkok said Asean had fallen off the
economic radar of countries like the United States and Japan, and the region
could do without this new threat to its security.
“The
first thing we should do is show the world we are on top of the situation,
that we are working together to overcome the terrorist threat to
security,” he said.
“So
my message to Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was on a bilateral basis and
on a collective Asean basis. We must be seen by the world to be working
together to overcome the impact of terrorist activities in Asean.” Tong
said.
Singapore’s
leader said that apart from arresting suspected terrorists and uprooting
their network and cells, it was perhaps time for Asean countries to set up a
special unit to deal with terrorism.
Tong
said combating foreign perceptions of Asean as a sanctuary for terrorist
activities was not easy, as the September 11 attacks had provoked illogical
fear of Muslims and Islam.
On
the other hand, the U.S. said the size and sophistication of an Al-Qaeda
affiliate group in Southeast Asia was far greater than the Pentagon
expected.
The
group, Jemaah Islamiyah, is an Islamic extremist network allied by common
cause with al-Qaida to oppose U.S. interests, a U.S. official said.
He
said the Jemaah has ties in Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines, and had
sent some of its fighters to be trained in Afghanistan.
A
crackdown in December and January by Singapore and Malaysia exposed a plot
by Jemaah Islamiyah to attack U.S. naval and other facilities in Singapore.
Indonesia,
which has the world's largest Muslim population, has come under
international pressure to take action against Islamic militants in the same
way Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines have done.
The
U.S. and Singapore believe top Jemaah Islamiyah leaders have escaped arrest
last December by infiltrating into Indonesia incognito.
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