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ASEAN meeting to focus on terrorism

Indonesia insists that the topic of counterterrorism cooperation will feature prominently in the upcoming ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) early next month, especially in light of a number of important initiatives taken at the regional and subregional levels

Tama Salim (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Thu, July 20, 2017

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ASEAN meeting to focus on terrorism

I

ndonesia insists that the topic of counterterrorism cooperation will feature prominently in the upcoming ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) early next month, especially in light of a number of important initiatives taken at the regional and subregional levels.

Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said on Wednesday she was certain the topic of counterterrorism would be raised when the top diplomats of all 10 ASEAN member states convened in the Philippine capital Manila next month.

While she insisted that there would not be a special session dedicated to the issue of counterterrorism in Manila, it would definitely be one of the priority issues that ASEAN would have to face.

“At the very least we will inform [other member states] about our trilateral meeting in Manila, and how ASEAN can strengthen cooperation in countering terrorism,” Retno told The Jakarta Post after her keynote speech at an ASEAN dialogue forum in Jakarta.

Counterterrorism has emerged as an issue of utmost urgency in the region, following the siege of Marawi city in the southern Philippine by rebels inspired by the Islamic State (IS) group.

The entire region of Mindanao has been placed under military rule since May 23 after a rebel movement led by the Maute and Abu Sayyaf militant groups took over parts of the city, plunging the Philippines into its biggest security crisis in years.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has made appeals to Congress to extend the martial law beyond the six months it was previously meant to encompass, as he seeks time until the end of the year to crush the rebels in a region that has been marred by a history of separatism.

In response to the crisis in Marawi, and building on a maritime security mechanism for joint naval patrols enacted last month, Indonesia initiated the trilateral meeting with Malaysia and the Philippines that focused on preventing the spread of violent extremism in the region.

The trilateral mechanism aims, among other things, to establish a forum for the relevant countries to review and share policy recommendations relating to legislature on counterterrorism.

Retno previously indicated that the trilateral mechanism would be expanded to include other countries in the region, including Singapore and Thailand.

In her keynote speech, Minister Retno called the Marawi incident a “wake up call for ASEAN,” saying that other member states could not afford to stay silent on the matter of countering terrorism.

She also alluded to another meeting in Manado, North Sulawesi, that Indonesia will host at the end of this month, which aims to strengthen subregional cooperation on the management of borders in relation to the threat of terrorism and violent extremism.

The Manado meeting that Retno is expected to attend will also involve relevant stakeholders from Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines.

Earlier this week, an official in charge of ASEAN’s external relations revealed that Canada was likely to table a cooperation initiative on counterterrorism with ASEAN in the upcoming ASEAN-Canada Post Ministerial Conference, which will be hosted after the AMM.

In any case, ASEAN is expected to come up with timely solutions in anticipation of the spread of terrorism in the region.

“I see the urgency for ASEAN to pool our resources and institutionalize common efforts in combating terrorism,” Retno said.

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