The Hindu : National : 'Terrorism hits investment climate in ASEAN region'

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Thursday, Nov 25, 2004

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National

'Terrorism hits investment climate in ASEAN region'

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, NOV. 24. Terrorism is a serious issue in the ASEAN region since it has "damaged the investment climate badly," Daljit Singh, a senior research fellow with the Institute of South-East Asian Studies, Singapore, said here today.

Though none of the terrorist outfits was strong enough to topple governments and though the radical groups had very little support, their activities had a debilitating effect on countries, especially those still recovering from the Asian meltdown of the nineties.

Indonesia, he said, was "key to south-east Asian stability." Its growth rate of four per cent could not provide jobs to growing numbers of people.

Dr. Daljit Singh said that creating a climate conducive to foreign investment and rooting out corruption were the need of the hour in Indonesia. In both these efforts, neither ASEAN nor other powers could help. The Yudhoyono Government needed to act fast to ensure that people were not disenchanted. "I think there ought to be a clean-up," he said, talking on "Terrorism in South-East Asia," at the Observer Research Foundation. A main issue that led to high levels of violence in Indonesia related to the country's inability to crack down on suspected terrorists like Malaysia and Singapore, Dr. Singh said. While there had been arrests after a bombing, preventive police action was lacking. This could be because of the lack of effective anti-terrorism laws.

Dr. Singh described the violence in Thailand as a "new development." The fact that the fundamentalist PAS party (Parti Islam Semalaysia) ruled Kelantan, the province that borders Thailand did not help matters. Many Thai politicians were accusing Malaysia of harbouring Thai terrorists and this might affect the relationship between the two countries.

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