Singapore will work closely with neighbouring Indonesia to combat international terrorism, visiting Deputy Prime Minister Tony Tan said Thursday. Tan, who is also co-ordinating minister for security and defence, was speaking after a meeting with Indonesia's senior security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. "Terrorism is a menace and terrorism today is international," Tan told reporters. "It is not possible for any one country to combat this menace and we have to cooperate together."
| Up until the Bali bombings, Indonesia was the weakest link in a not very strong antiterrorism chain in Southeast Asia. Singapore's always taken it seriously — Lee Kwan Yew's a secular kind of guy, with a short fuse when it comes to nonsense. Bali highlighted what seems to be a very capable police organization in Indonesia (as opposed to the army and most of the government). Here's hoping cooperation will expand the sphere of competence within Indonesia, rather than end up degrading it in Singapore. |
Earlier Thursday the Singapore government announced two more Singaporeans had been arrested for being part of the al Qaeda-linked Jamaah Islamiyah (JI). This brings to 35 the number detained in the city state for alleged JI links. Yudhoyono praised excellent intelligence and police cooperation between Indonesia and Singapore and said Indonesia would like to see its regional neighbours holding joint military and police training exercises in the archipelago. Tan is due to meet President Megawati Sukarnoputri on Friday. |