ASEAN armed forces need efficient ways to combat terrorism: MAF

Armed forces from ASEAN countries need to explore ways to handle terrorist threats more efficiently and effectively, a Malaysian official said on Friday.

This initiative required drastic approaches in terms of planning and follow-up actions that comprised cooperation in investigation, training and capacity building, Malaysian Armed Force (MAF) chief Azizan Ariffin said in Malacca.

MALINDO LATGABMA DARSASA 7AB/2010, the joint military exercise between Malaysia and Indonesia, was officially opened in the state of Malacca Friday morning by the general.

Speaking to the audience at the opening ceremony, Azizan said that with the existing expertise, assets and experience, the armed forces were able to pool their efforts together to minimize terrorist threats in the region.

"No matter how powerful the armed forces are, they cannot face the threat from the terrorist groups that have well-established network operating within and outside a country alone.

"Although we already have the multilateral mechanism tasked to combat terrorism in place, we must always be reminded that terrorists nowadays are more professional, cunning and daring," stressed Azizan.

Noting that South East Asia was also caught in security threat, Azizan said the region required armed forces that were more flexible, responsive and always on high alert.

The general also said that violent threat had changed the geostrategic landscape in the region, adding that non-traditional security threat, including international violence, existed in the region.

Therefore, the related armed forces were not only responsible for managing conflicts between countries but also required to acquire high professionalism to deal with any arising conflicts and crises, said Azizan.

He also said that military operations aimed at combating violence should reflect the revolution in the military affairs and the dimension of information war.

The hierarchy control of the armed forces in the traditional ways should also be changed to one that was network centric, emphasizing on data sharing across all levels in the organizations, said Azizan.

On the joint exercise themed "Combined Joint Task Force -- Counter Terrorist", Azizan extended his hope that the involved parties could raise their capability to maintain the region's security.

"The exercise should be used for assessing the effectiveness of the contingency plans, as well as the adequacy and effectiveness of the joint military actions doctrine.

"We should also emphasize on the component forces' capability in order to ensure that Malaysia and Indonesia can carry out collective actions while creating a unified procedure to fight terrorism," said Azizan.

Source:Xinhua