ASEAN Rejects Mahathir's Call for U.N. Anti-Terror Summit
By Kazi Mahmood
JAKARTA, Nov 6 (IslamOnline) - The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Monday declined to back a proposal by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad for a joint United Nations conference on terrorism.
The setback suffered by Malaysia, however, did not undermine the Malaysian position on the issue of terrorism and showed that the world remained divided in the wake of the U.S.' war on terror.
Malaysia urged the U.N. to take on a greater role in the war against terrorism. Kuala Lumpur also wanted the ASEAN grouping to pressure the U.S. to stop its bombing of Afghanistan before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
On Monday, the Southeast Asian leaders declined to back the Malaysian proposal for a U.N. conference, stating the process would take years and would not deal with the immediate problem of Osama bin Laden.
A spokesman for Singapore's government added on Tuesday that Singapore did not want to get involved in a declaration on terrorism, which included "contentious issues" such as the conflict in the Middle East.
"Some countries wanted to use the declaration to include other elements of terrorism," Ong Keng Yong, spokesman for Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said.
In a declaration on Monday, Southeast Asian countries condemned the September 11 terror attacks in the United States and pledged to work more closely against terrorism.
Mahathir Mohamad has said he wants the conference to include the Israel-Palestinian conflict, which the ASEAN leaders refused to take on.
Ong Keng Yong said condemning the September 11 attacks was one of the main issues of the leaders' summit, as were the regional free-trade agreement and talks with China about trade.
He said that organizing a conference to define terrorism could take years and that Mohamad's idea of finding the root of terrorism goes back to the Middle East and the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Yong said Mohamad wanted to have a convention on all these contentious issues "and we don't want to go through all these things at this juncture. We want to support the Americans and respond to the September 11 attacks.'"
The ASEAN makes decisions by consensus. Officials confirmed that the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore also opposed the Malaysian proposal.
