The rise of violence and brutality committed by terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria poses a threat to the Middle East and, if left unchecked, the world, according to ASEAN.
“ASEAN denounces all acts of destruction, violence and terror in all its forms and manifestations,” the organization of 10 Southeast Asian member states said in a statement posted on its Web site on Friday. “ASEAN renews its commitment to work with the international community to fight against extremism, radicalism and terrorism and address its root causes.”
The US last week expanded its bombing campaign against the Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The strikes, backed by the broadest military coalition between the US and its Arab allies since the 1991 Gulf War, seek to rein in militants who have rampaged through Syria and threatened to ignite a civil war in Iraq.
ASEAN supports the UN Security Council resolutions, which call on the international community to suppress the flow of foreign terrorist fighters and financing of such groups, the bloc said in the statement.
ASEAN comprises Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and Brunei.
As many as 200 Indonesians and at least 30 Malaysians have traveled to Syria to fight with the Islamic State or other militant groups, according to a report last month released by the New York-based Soufan Group, which provides strategic analysis to governments. This raises the risk they will return to their home countries and carry out attacks, the Soufan Group said in the report.
“Governments and Muslim community organizations must maintain vigilance against attempts by misguided leaders to spread propaganda to recruit Muslim youth to extremism and violence,”said Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
“Governments should criminalize by law its nationals advocating, supporting or participating in fighting overseas,” he added.
Should there be an Islamic State strike in Malaysia, it would be along the Sulu Straits, between Sabah and the southern Philippines, the Star reported yesterday, citing Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein.
A meeting is to be held with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to discuss allocating funds to safeguard the country’s waters, Hishammuddin told the newspaper.
The Philippine government has been alerted to the possible entry of Islamic State militants into the country, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported yesterday, citing Philippine President Benigno Aquino III’s spokesman Abigail Valte.
Authorities are tapping into the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which has signed a peace treaty with the government, to gather and share information, according to the report.
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