June 6th 2004
SINGAPORE, June 6 (Bernama) -- Foreign military presence in Southeast Asia will be a set back to the ideological battle against extremism and militancy, according to Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
"The lessons of Iraq should be clear to us: ill prepared liberators do make mistakes and the failure of good intentions can cause great damage to social and political stability," he said at the Shangri-La Dialogue plenary session on "Defence, Intelligence and the Campaign Against Terrorism" here.
Najib, who is also Defence Minister, said that there had been suggestions that the United States should play a deeper role in Southeast Asia in the campaign against terror.
Malaysia, he said, agreed on the need to expand cooperation with the US and other nations, in terms of acquiring and sharing quality intelligence; collaborating on the latest intelligence techniques and surveillance technology; and working together to choke the financial and logistics networks of terrorist groups.
"Granted, there is much more that countries in this region can do to work together in addressing the terrorist threat. We can and should redouble our efforts to deepen our cooperation in the vital areas of defence, law enforcement and intelligence," he added.
"However, what we should avoid is the presence of foreign forces in Southeast Asia to help us deal with this threat, not because we distrust those from outside the region, but because foreign military presence will set us back in our ideological battle against extremism and militancy," said Najib.
Stressing that political freedom and economic progress were "great bulwarks against terrorism", the deputy premier said that as a modern and moderate Muslim country, Malaysia had proven that militancy and radical Islam could be defeated through the ballot box.
Citing the recent general elections, as an example, he said the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional won yet another resounding victory, securing 90 per cent out of 219 contested parliamentary seats, while the Opposition, which included the radical Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), was soundly defeated.
"As testament of Malaysia's political maturity, opposition parties, even those nominally Islamist, continue to abide by democratic rules and do not resort to extra-democratic methods," said Najib.
He also said that Malaysia's ability to defeat militant extremists was its success in balancing economic growth with social equity.
"The government's emphasis on providing the broadest educational opportunities, balancing economic growth and job creation across regions, streamlining religious instruction, ensuring equitable infrastructure development, and projecting the true meaning of Islam, are all important defences against radicalism," he said.
Describing Malaysia as a small, moderate, peaceful and Islamic country, Najib said that like millions of Muslims and non-Muslims in the world, "we reject the distorted rhetoric and despicable acts of terror committed in the name of Islam."
But like many in the developing and emerging world, he said, Malaysia was also concerned that "powerful states may not be going about this campaign in ways that would win the hearts and minds of millions of ordinary people in the world, and build a lasting peace for all," he added.
Malaysia, he stressed, had been acknowledged as a helpful and constructive critic of the way the campaign against terror had been executed, "but the question to ask is not whether we in Southeast Asia will join this global campaign against terror, or when we will do so, because we already have."
"What is more instructive is to understand how we in Southeast Asia have gone about trying to address these threats. While our aims are one and the same with the rest of the free world, that is to secure peace and security for our citizens, our methods may vary according to individual circumstances and local conditions," he noted.
The Deputy Prime Minister also said that terrorism could not be bombed away into submission, noting that what might have worked in Afghanistan, Sudan, Yemen and Iraq, would not work in Malaysia, and he doubted that it would be acceptable to many of its Asean neighbours.
"Tackling terrorism requires denying militancy of its psychological oxygen of hatred, mistrust and deprivation," he said, noting that addressing these threats required the use of "a judicious mix of hard and soft power."
In Malaysia's case, military force and preventive detentions under the Internal Security Act (ISA) had been used against perpetrators, in particular, when they had or were about to engage in armed conflict, he said.
He said the Malaysian experience with militant Islam was another powerful reminder of the need for a balanced approach in its campaign against terrorism, citing the Sauk incident in 2000 involving the Al-Maunah group in its northern jungles as a test of its resolve and fortitude.
"Southeast Asia has never and will never make separate peace with terrorists and extremists. America need not be concerned," he reiterated.
"But we continue to be open and honest and confident enough to examine the underlying issues that give rise to these acts of terror in our midst, and work to resolve them as best as we can, so that the perpetrators of terror can no longer wrongly claim the moral high ground for their actions," he stressed.
On whether there was a link between Islam and terrorism, Najib said, there was perhaps one, "but only because we have allowed such terrorist groups to combine their purely domestic grievances with the larger injustices committed against Muslims in the Middle East."
"This heady cocktail creates a powerful perception that the world is against Islam, and against Muslims everywhere. The injustices committed against the Palestinian people appear crystal clear to over 1 billion Muslims around the world, and yet there are countries that continue to promote an imbalanced view of this long running confict," he said.
"We must be equally committed to addressing the underlying, legitimate grievances that allow for such extremists to gain support from the wider population, as we are quick to seek out and destroy these groups in the far corners of the world," said Najib.
Najib also agreed with Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong's remarks at the start of the three-day Asia security conference that the fight against terrorism was both an ideological and a geopolitical struggle, noting that Southeast Asia had long recognised this truth.
"He is right that the United States has found it hard to lead the ideological struggle and has often resorted to geopolitical instruments of power.
"Let there be no doubt, there is more to come if we continue to ignore the need for a balanced approach to this campaign against terrorism. We should make the adjustments now," said Najib at the conference organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
