Indonesia, Phillipines, Malaysia to hold meeting on counter-terrorism

The foreign ministers of Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia will hold a trilateral meeting to address the issue of counter-terrorism in the sub-region with regard to the current security situation in Marawi, southern Philippines, Indonesia''s Antara news agency reported.

According to Antara, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi and her Filipino and Malaysian counterparts, Alan Peter Schramm Cayetano and Datuk Seri Anifah Aman, will meet in Manila on Thursday to discuss the prevention of security problems in southern Philippines from impacting the other two countries.

"The meeting aims to discuss security situation, especially in Marawi, and its impact in the sub-region," Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir told reporters on Tuesday afternoon.

Through this meeting, the Indonesian government expects a briefing from the Philippines authorities on the situation in Marawi, the challenges they are facing, and the measures that must be carried out to ease the security situation.

Indonesia and Malaysia will convey the views related to development of terror issues in the sub-region, particularly the involvement of foreign terrorist fighters (FTF) from both the countries in Marawi, Antara reported.

Most importantly, the meeting will focus on the possible measures that must be taken under a trilateral cooperation to overcome the challenges of terrorism and radicalism in the sub-region.

Various measures in the context of border control, intelligence, law enforcement as well as economic empowerment, education, and capacity building will be among the topics of cooperation to be discussed.

"The message that Indonesia will bring (to the meeting) is that although law enforcement efforts is important to tackle terror issues, other soft power aspects, such as empowerment and education, must not be abandoned as well," Nasir noted.

The trilateral meeting, which will also involve each country''s military commander, police chief, counter-terrorism unit, and intelligence agency, is part of the 2016 Joint Declaration in Yogyakarta between the three countries under the initiative of Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

The first trilateral meeting has resulted in the implementation of coordinated maritime patrol and operational of Maritime Command Center (MCC) at the Tarakan Naval Main Base, North Kalimantan.

According to the Foreign Ministry''s director for the protection of Indonesian nationals and entities abroad, Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, the standard operating procedure (SOP) from last year''s meeting, in an attempt to maintain security in Sulu and its surrounding waters to prevent capture of fishermen or ship crew, can be extended to stem the spillover effect of the terrorists from Marawi to surrounding countries, including Indonesia and Malaysia.

"This second trilateral meeting has a strong foundation, and so we are optimistic that (the results of) this meeting will be more operational or workable in the short term," Iqbal noted.

-- BERNAMA