Tackling terror in Asean

From the Bangkok Post (Jun 13): Tackling terror in Asean

Region's top military strategists call for more coordinated effort to track jihadists, and to address the root causes of radicalism
Southeast Asian states are facing a deadly and growing threat from the Islamic State (ISIS), say Asean military leaders, who have called for a more united front to fight terrorism.

The defence ministers of Singapore and Malaysia were particularly outspoken about the threat posed by Islamist radicals when they addressed the 15th IISS Asia Security Summit, also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue, earlier this month in Singapore.

Other concerns raised at the annual gathering sponsored by the International Institute for Strategic Studies included the risk of conflict in the South China Sea. Despite some recent sabre-rattling by both China and the United States, the latter insisted its interest was in preventing any one of the various maritime disputes in the region from escalating militarily.

Freedom of navigation in the region has become an increasingly contentious issue, especially between the United States and China over the right of US military vessels to operate in China's 200-mile exclusive economic zone.

But discussions of the South China Sea took a back seat to concerns that more nationals of Southeast Asian countries -- Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines in particular -- are travelling abroad to train with terror groups and pursue jihad, and that they could pose a serious threat when they return home.

According to the Asia-Pacific regional security assessment this year by the IISS, the number of Malaysians travelling to Syria has increased steadily since 2014. The Malaysian Special Branch in early 2016 reported that there were 74 Malaysians in Syria, of whom 52 were fighters and the remainder were men in non-combat roles, women or children.

The IISS reported that ISIS has attracted far more Indonesian recruits and supporters than any other Middle Eastern jihadist group; an estimated 20 to 40 Indonesians have travelled to Syria under the auspices of Jemaah Islamiyah and Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia. In March 2015, the Indonesian police confirmed that 156 Indonesians had travelled to Syria. Overall, it is likely that in late 2015 there were slightly more than 400 Indonesians in Syria, and that around 45% of them were women and children.

The number of fighters from the southern Philippines who have travelled to Syria vary widely. While the government maintains that there are no Philippine jihadists in Syria or Iraq, the Manila Times claimed in October 2014 that as many as 200 were in the two countries. But some analysts estimate that there may be no more than 20 Filipinos among ISIS fighters in Syria, according to the IISS database.

"In the past three years alone, ISIS has recruited more sympathisers and operatives in Asean than Al-Qaeda did in the last decade, with more than a thousand fighters in Iraq and Syria," Singaporean Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen told a forum on pursuing common security objectives.

Dr Ng said some of these radicals transited through Singapore in the hope of eluding authorities by taking multiple hops to their final destinations.

"Just three months ago, we caught four Indonesian travellers linked to ISIS while they were here in Singapore, and handed them back to Indonesia's counter-terrorism police," he said. "We did the same in November last year to two other Indonesian men who planned to travel to Syria. Even construction workers from Bangladesh here have been radicalised while in Singapore by their fellow workers, to plot attacks in their home countries."

About 30 terrorist groups in Southeast Asia have publicly pledged their allegiance to ISIS, including Abu Sayyaf and Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), which received ISIS funding to carry out the Jakarta bombing that killed eight people in January.

In Malaysia, 14 suspected ISIS militants were recently arrested during a four-day operation across five states. Several personnel from the Malaysian Armed Forces, including two commandos, have also been found to have links to ISIS, he said.

Returned fighters have linked up among themselves through their networks and declared their collective goal to establish a caliphate. Just two weeks ago, ISIS released its first propaganda video targeting Southeast Asia, in the native languages of Malaysia and Indonesia, he said.

Dr Ng said that training camps had been reported in Poso in Central Sulawesi and in the southern Philippines. Terrorists have capitalised on existing smuggling routes to move people and arms in the region that includes the southern Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

"This gathering storm has the real potential to destabilise this region, if not tackled decisively and together," he said, adding that security forces, including militaries of individual countries, would have to combat terrorism rigorously. The threat will grow if terrorist groups become more organised to the point that they could mount sophisticated, large-scale attacks with deadlier weapons.

"Collectively, we must work closely together to build up joint responses, and strengthen intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance efforts," he said.

Where appropriate, he said, Asean states could combine resources for operations. The proposed Sulu Sea patrols between Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines are a welcome initiative to deal with maritime terrorism and smuggling and also curtail the movement of extremists, he said.

Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysia's minister of defence, agreed that Asean needed a more coordinated approach.

"We must realise that Daesh is not the usual terrorist group we are used to dealing with. Daesh is not Al-Qaeda. They differ in their goals but are partly rooted in their histories," said the minister, using another name for ISIS.

He said that terrorist organisations such as Al-Qaeda had only a few hundred active cells and did not directly confront military forces. They prey on civilians and most importantly, they do not pursue control of physical territory.

On the other hand, he said, Daesh asserted control over vast amounts of oil-rich land which has allowed the group to build a self-sustaining financial and administrative model, unthinkable for most terrorist groups, he said.

Mr Hishammuddin said that ISIS now had more than 31,000 fighters with extensive military capabilities engaging in sophisticated operations, while controlling lines of vital communication and commanding infrastructure. This is why conventional counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency strategies have not and will never work against it.

He said ISIS was a clear and present danger to the Asia-Pacific region, both in the form of potential returned fighters and self-radicalised lone wolves. It also has the potential to exacerbate instability in the region's hotspots, such as the southern regions of the Philippines and Thailand, as well as exploiting other fault lines in the region.

He characterised ISIS as "pure, unrefined evil that, if left unchecked, could poison our futures.

"We have scored some successes against it on several fronts but we are by no means safe. The Daesh threat cannot be resolved by simply bombing certain countries into submission, nor can it be resolved by knee-jerk reactions," he said.

"We need to agree on a comprehensive plan to defeat Daesh -- and the plan needs to involve greater cooperation of all parties including, but not limited to the military. Destroying it could very well be the greatest challenge of our generation.

"Military competition is an increasingly sensitive matter. We cannot allow it to become a distraction from external threats such as Daesh, nor an unnecessary, additional source of tensions."

Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha told the forum that terrorism and extremism must be swiftly dealt with through cooperation in order to prevent their spread.

"This involves both development measures and military measures ... and addressing the root causes of the problem, such as loss of economic and societal opportunities, poverty, famine, violation of human rights and injustice," he said. "If these issues are not addressed, it could tie in to situations of unrest in many countries."
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