Speech by Professor S Jayakumar, Deputy Prime MInister, Co-ordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Law, at the 2005 Gulf Dialogue Plenary Session "Perspectives on GCC International Security Relationships" in Bahrain on Saturday 3 December 2005
STRENGTHENING THE ASIA - MIDDLE EAST PARTNERSHIP AGAINST TERRORISM
Ladies and Gentlemen
I wish to thank the Kingdom of Bahrain for the warm hospitality accorded to the delegates to this dialogue.
The people of the countries in Asia and in the Gulf region are not strangers. We have known each other for over a thousand years. Our peoples are intricately linked by a complex web of cultural, religious and economic ties. Arab seafarers first sailed to India and China as far back as the 8th Century. Asian traders began sailing to the Gulf shortly after.
During the colonial era and the Cold War, the geopolitical landscape changed and consequently, ties between Asia and the Gulf weakened. At present, however, our regions are witnessing a renaissance in relations. Globalisation of trade, investment, telecommunications, travel and information, has brought us closer together. Asia and the Gulf are forging new ties with each other. The latest development is the inauguration of the Asia-Middle East Dialogue (AMED) in Singapore. AMED is intended as a platform for all voices of moderation to be heard. It was a first step towards increasing awareness and interaction between the two regions. AMED also seeks to rekindle the historical links of commerce and trade between the regions, and expand trade and investment links to help spur economic growth.
This takes place at an important period in Asia's history. North Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia are coming together as a new architecture of regional cooperation takes shape. With the rise of China and India, the centre of the global economy is moving to Asia. As such, the links between Asia and the Middle East are becoming deeper and broader in scope. Arab countries are keen to draw on Asia's developmental experiences to jump-start their own economic reforms. Increasingly, the Arab world is finding out about the many investment opportunities in Asia, especially China. When I met the Saudi Minister of Higher Education in May this year, he told me that Saudi Arabia was reorganising its scholarship programme to send students to Japan and China. For Asia, the Gulf is a key source of energy resources, and increasingly a source of capital for economic development.
However, security and stability provide the basis for development and underpin current and future economic success. Both Asia and the Gulf face a common security threat - international terrorism. And it can only be defeated through our common efforts. In many parts of Asia, terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda have spawned or are supporting sister organisations. This includes the Jemaah Islamiyah in Southeast Asia and groups such as Abu Sayyaf and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Although their strategic objectives may differ, they have all caused much destruction and taken innocent lives. This global network of terrorist cells is spreading their ideology and terror tactics. To counter this network, our two regions must establish stronger links as part of the global front against terrorism.
I would like to suggest three areas in which our governments could enhance cooperation in fighting terror. These three areas are prevention, intervention and response.
Prevention
First, there is a need for countries to strengthen cooperation in intelligence sharing and preventive capabilities. In this regard, I commend the government of Saudi Arabia for its very timely initiative in organising the International Counter-Terrorism Conference in February this year. The conference provided a useful forum for the exchange of views and the sharing of counter-terrorism experiences.
In Southeast Asia, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has also taken steps to enhance counter-terrorism collaboration in areas such as training, capacity building, law enforcement and information sharing. Apart from multilateral initiatives, bilateral exchanges are also important. The importance of timely and accurate intelligence is crucial. More often than not, the most useful intelligence is often shared on a confidential bilateral basis. An example of the value of intelligence sharing occurred in 2003. Singapore intelligence had provided information to the Thai authorities which led to the arrest of Arifin Ali, a senior member of the Jemaah Islamiyah organisation. Arifin was repatriated to Singapore. It was subsequently discovered that he had been planning attacks against several foreign embassies in Thailand. Through such collaborative counter-terrorism efforts, terrorist cells and plots in the region were pre-empted and many innocent lives saved.
Intervention - both physical and ideological
Second, the fight against radicalism and terrorism involves intervention on both the physical and ideological fronts. Terrorism is not supported by any religion. Yet, increasingly, we are seeing religion, in particular Islam, wrongfully invoked as the justification for terrorist acts. The reasons for this are many and complex, I shall not dwell on them here. However, this is a challenge that must be taken up by religious and community leaders as much as by security and intelligence people. On the ideological front, it is therefore important to differentiate and isolate the tiny minority of religious extremists from mainstream Muslims. It should be clear that the war on terror is not a war on Islam.
It is ultimately peace loving Muslims who must come together to reject extremism and the deviant teachings of those who distort Islam. Non-Muslims do not have the locus standi or the wherewithal to contest with the extremists on ideological grounds. This is why I was encouraged by the initiative by King Abdullah II of Jordan to hold the First International Islamic Conference in Amman. The affirmation of 180 religious leaders of the Amman Message demonstrated the true essence of Islam as a moderate, inclusive and tolerant faith. It was a strong repudiation of the terror and violence espoused by the extremists.
In Singapore also we are trying to address this. The Singapore Malay-Muslim community has rallied to counter the violent teachings of the religious extremists. The JI members arrested by the Singapore authorities in 2001 and 2002 were found to be deeply indoctrinated. To help rehabilitate them, several of our Islamic religious leaders and teachers have formed themselves into a Religious Rehabilitation Group (RRG). It was through the process of interacting with the detainees that the religious leaders realised how misguided the detainees were and the the Government's efforts were not targeted at the Malay-Muslim community. The RRG has had some success with these former JI members. The RRG has also similarly provided religious counselling to the wives of the detainees.
The RRG members have also taken upon themselves to reach out to the Muslim community in Singapore andeducate them to the real agenda of the terrorists. What we do know we are prepared to share our experiences with other countries facing similar challenges. We believe that such exchanges will better equip all of us to face this challenge.
Response
Third, countries can benefit from one another's experiences in dealing with the aftermath of terrorist attacks. We must face the prospect that despite our best efforts, a terrorist might still slip through. As one Irish terrorist said sometime back, terrorists only need to be successful one time, while Governments have to be successful 100% of the time. Nevertheless, we can continue to prepare ourselves, exchange intelligence and share our experiences with our partners to better counter a common security threat. We have the benefit of the experiences of our colleagues in countries which have sadly experienced terrorist attacks and there is more scope for our emergency services to step up exchanges to learn from one another's experiences in dealing with such attacks. Apart from preventing terrorist attacks, it is also important how a country and a society responds and deals with the aftermath of such attacks.
While the world has seen terrorism in the past, the terrorism we face today is religious based and global in reach. The terrorist network is no longer just a traditional one. It is now also a virtual one where communications are conducted in cyberspace and through the media. Today's terrorists are media-savvy and IT-literate. They use global networks for communications and the Internet to disseminate their propaganda. Terrorist acts which occur in one part of the globe are quickly imitated elsewhere. There is no proven direct linkage between the perpetrators. Yet there is a clear pattern of terrorist groups increasingly drawing inspiration from one another's actions, irrespective of their geographical origin. For example, the increasing use of women suicide bombers and the use of video-testaments by terrorist groups. We can no longer dismiss terrorist acts taking place far away as isolated and of being of no consequence to us.
In this scenario, countries cannot ensure their security and survival alone. Countries from every region of the world, including Asia and the Gulf, with shared common interests, will have to cooperate with each other to combat terrorism. The common threat of terrorism, has served to underscore our inter-dependence. Only by working together will we be able to give ourselves the best chance to defeat the scourge of terrorism.
