Asean Urged To Enhance Efforts To Wipe Out Terror Networks

KUALA LUMPUR, April 19 (Bernama) -- Asean must come to grips with the reality that terrorism is not a threat confined to a particular country or group of countries. Rather, the span of terror networks and activities was cross-border and its impact, transregional, said Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin. Using effective preventive measures, he said, Asean needed to step up collaborative efforts to terminate the root of terror networks. He said the regional grouping should strengthen cooperation on extra-territorial legal processes, share technical expertise and information, and act as a forum in which to continue discussions on effective ways to fight against terrorism. Muhyiddin said this when closing the three-day Putrajaya Forum 2012 here on Thursday. The event was organised in conjunction with the Defence Services Asia exhibition and conference. Muhyiddin pointed out that besides the war on terror, Asean had to confront other issues which posed imminent threat to the region's security and harm the economic and social well-being of the people. The deputy prime minister said the threats included illegal immigration, human trafficking, drug trafficking, piracy and transnational environmental crime. "The emergence of these non-traditional security threats, if left unchecked, will destabilise our region and halt the process of creating a prosperous, harmonious and peaceful Asean Community," he noted. Muhyiddin said such threats, which were transnational and transregional in nature, required collective and multilateral responses from all Asean member states and dialogue partners. He noted that regional forums played an important role in addressing these threats through collaborative use of political, economic, diplomatic and legal means in the true spirit of regional security and defence cooperation. "As Asean is emerging as a new engine of robust economic growth, security and stability of this region becomes our top priority," he added. Asean comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. -- BERNAMA