Bangkok--Oct 5--eTurboNews
The attacks on Bali necessitates closer cooperation among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a Malaysian official said Monday.
Speaking to reporters, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said, ASEAN member countries "condemn all forms of terrorism and reiterate the need for us to work and cooperate together."
Minister Albar added: "We have to continue as ASEAN to be vigilant and to ensure that terrorism will not divert our attention towards working closely together in order to achieve peace, security, progress and development within the ASEAN countries.
"So in order for us to be able to address these issues, we need to talk to each other very openly," he said.
When asked if Indonesia had sought cooperation with Malaysia after Indonesian officials fingered Malaysian terror suspects for Saturday's blasts, Syed Hamid, according to an Agence France Presse report, said: "If these people are within our country we have no problem to cooperate with Indonesia. The problem is, I think, these people are supposed to be in Indonesia.
"I think we (ASEAN countries) have cooperated very well...but there are certain areas that we may need to look at in order to ensure that terrorism cannot take place," Syed Hamid said.
"We must identify the terrorists. We must identify the extremist groups, whether it is the JI (Jemaah Islamiyah), or the Al-Qaeda-linked, we must deal with them squarely."
The minister said Malaysia would not issue a travel warning against Bali. "Indonesia is facing a grave situation at present. They are recovering from their economic woes and if we issue a travel advisory then it is not helpful."
Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam comprise the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
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