Australia and Asean to pool intelligence to combat terrorism

According to Reuters, Australia signed an agreement on Saturday with Southeast Asian nations including Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines promising to share intelligence to combat terrorism.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull reportedly announced the signing of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) in which Asean agreed to share intelligence, co-operate on lawmaking and counter extremism on social media.

Turnbull said in a televised address to Asean that Islamic State's influence was growing in Southeast Asia after the militants had lost their caliphate in the Middle East.

"They'll return battle-hardened and trained, so it's vital for Australia and our Asean partners to collaborate across borders," he said.

Turnbull said non-conventional tools such as digital currencies, stored value cards and crowd-funding platforms were making it harder to detect terror financing.

"As regional partners, we all play a crucial role in combating these disturbing and dangerous phenomena," he said.

Bernama reported that the MoU was signed between Asean and the Australian government at the closing ceremony of the Counter-Terrorism Conference held at the International Conference Centre (ICC) Sydney on Saturday.

It was inked by Asean secretary-general Lim Jock Hoi and Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

The Counter-Terrorism Conference is one of the major lead-in events during the two-day Asean-Australia Special Summit which began today. The conference highlighted the importance of regional collaboration to address the shared threat of terrorism and violent extremism.

Fighting terrorism together

According to Bernama, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had urged Asean member countries and Australia should step up and intensify co-operation in preventing the spread of terrorist ideologies and to hone even more effective approaches to counter the threats of radicalisation and violent extremism in the Asia-Pacific.

“No one country can fight terrorism alone. The more united we are, the more effective we will be in combating this terrible and inhumane scourge. None of us are safe from it. But together, we will be safer,” he said in his keynote address at the closing ceremony of the Counter-Terrorism Conference.

Najib is reportedly the only Asean leader invited to deliver a speech at the closing ceremony of the conference. The other leader to address the conference is Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Najib highlighted joint initiatives between Asean member countries and Australia as examples of international counterterrorism co-operation.

“The more we work together on these issues, the more successful we will be. As examples, I would mention the annual Redback Operation between the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency and the Australian Border Force, and the Malacca Straits Patrol initiative, which brings together Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand.

“Similar mechanisms have also been set up in other strategic waterways - such as in the Sulu Sea, where Malaysian, Indonesian, and the Philippines authorities work closely to curb kidnapping and piracy in those vast territorial waters,” he said.

The prime minister also praised Malaysia’s long and consistent record in combating the challenges of terrorism and violent extremism.

“We have passed a number of laws, including the National Security Council Act, the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act, because we were determined not to wait until an atrocity was committed, and only act later. If we want to be effective in saving lives, it is essential that we have legislation that prevents acts of terrorism, rather than just deal with the aftermaths,” he said. -Mkini