The Hindu : Tri-nation pact against terrorism signed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 08, 2002

International

International

Tri-nation pact against terrorism signed

By Amit Baruah

SINGAPORE May 7. Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines on Tuesday signed an agreement to combat terrorism in South-East Asia. The Malaysian Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, and his Philippine counterpart, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, witnessed the agreement, which was signed by the three Foreign Ministers, in Putrajaya, Malaysia's new administrative capital.

A joint statement said the agreement would allow anti-terrorism exercises as well as combined operations to hunt down militant elements, the setting up of hotlines as well as exchange of airline passenger lists. ``It (the pact) is an important step we have taken together as part of our commitment to combat terrorism,'' the Indonesian Foreign Minister, Hasan Wirajuda, told reporters after signing the agreement. (Interestingly, back in Jakarta, the Indonesian Vice-President, Hamzah Haz, paid a surprise visit today to meet the detained Laskar Jihad leader, Jaffar Umar Talib, who was arrested for inciting people to kill Christians and relatives of Sukarno, late father of President Megawati Sukarnoputri).

In his remarks after the agreement was signed, Mr. Mahathir said: "We formalised 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.''

All three countries have been plagued with the problem of Islamist militancy, with Malaysia taking the lead in arresting a large number of suspected extremists.

Cross-country links between these Islamist elements have also been revealed.

The Straits of Malacca are the most dangerous in the world because of the presence of ruthless pirates who attack ships plying on the route.

Both Malaysia and Indonesia must play a role in ensuring that this crucial sea lane is kept open to traffic.

According to Mr. Wirajuda, the three-nation agreement could be expanded to other countries in the region.

"This agreement is signed by three countries and it is also open for other ASEAN countries to sign in,'' he maintained.

It is significant that these three countries have not chosen to present the pact as part of an ASEAN effort despite the fact that the 10-member regional grouping condemned terrorism and promised to cooperate during a meeting of heads of Government in November 2001.

The pact comes ahead of Mr. Mahathir's scheduled meeting with the U.S. President, George W. Bush, in Washington next week.

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