CLOSE COOPERATION AMONG COUNTRIES NEEDED IN FIGHT AGAINST ISIS: DR NG

As the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) grows more coordinated in its efforts, so must countries in their fight against it. No country can do this alone.

Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen made this point when speaking to the media at the fourth International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Fullerton Forum: The Shangri-la Dialogue Sherpa Meeting on 25 Jan.

Held at the Fullerton Hotel from 24 to 26 Jan, the annual forum discusses the stabilisation of major power relations in the Asia-Pacific, emerging security threats and prospects for conflict management in the Asia-Pacific region. One of the topics discussed at the forum was the growing influence of ISIS and its attacks in the region.

Said Dr Ng: "No country will be able to minimise this risk alone. The more we cooperate, the stronger we become. This is a fight that may last many decades and we need many partners in this."

To bring home this point to the delegates at the dialogue, Dr Ng had invited Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, General (GEN) (Ret) Luhut Pandjaitan to deliver the keynote address, as he felt that it would be good for regional leaders to share their perspectives on the ISIS situation. This was also the first time that the Fullerton Forum had a foreign keynote speaker.

Dr Ng said that GEN (Ret) Luhut was a suitable choice to provide important and valuable insights into the security challenges in the region as the latter "is on top of the (ISIS) situation and has full understanding of what we can or cannot do alone or together".

With Indonesia having the largest Muslim population globally (230 million), the country plays a crucial leading role in eradicating these extremists. Citing the recent Jakarta attacks, GEN (Ret) Luhut said that Indonesia was "going in the right direction" by taking a very strict stand to eliminate any terrorists and not leave room for any negotiations.

GEN (Ret) Luhut said: "They (ISIS) want to see Taliban in this region, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand Do not underestimate them."

GEN (Ret) Luhut also called for closer cooperation and information sharing between countries and shared three strategies that Indonesia was implementing against ISIS - soft approach, hard approach and intelligence cooperation.

The soft approach included counter-radicalisation and de-radicalisation campaigns through education and materials. Intelligence cooperation involves the sharing of any ISIS-related information among countries through a tight network. The hard approach referred to attacking ISIS bases.

GEN (Ret) Luhut also shared that Indonesia had been aggressively distributing growth gains across provinces and districts more evenly. This was done through funds being transferred to the various regions. He highlighted that by this year, 770 trillion rupiah would be transferred to the regions. This amounted to more than one-third of the overall national budget.

"This means that every village would get USD100,000, so that poverty is minimised in the rural area. Because the source of terrorists comes from the rural areas. Without the improvement of economy, we will have more and more terrorists in the near future, which I think is very dangerous for Indonesia," he explained.

While Dr Ng agreed with GEN (Ret) Luhut that the ISIS financing network needed to be curbed, he noted that both Singapore and Indonesia are stepping up the sharing of intelligence with each other. He added that from time to time, both countries would exchange information through phone calls and at staff levels, and that there was a need to "watch each other's backs".

Dr Ng said: "These networks that we talk among ourselves are not new. We already have a counter-terrorism group in the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting. The threat is now certainly more coordinated, the danger is real and present. That means that we, too, must step up cooperation thankfully, we have platforms and the political will to do so."