Ahmad Pathoni, Jakarta – Militant groups are devising new strategies to prevail as countries cooperate more closely, keeping victory against terrorism out of reach, Indonesia's Foreign Minister said on Monday.
"While we have been enhancing our cooperation and enlarging our capabilities in the fight against terrorism, the terrorists are also making their own adjustments," Hassan Wirajuda told a ministerial security meeting in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.
"We must continue to enhance the format of the dialogues we are holding to counter the clever and seductive propaganda of the terrorists. We must devise more effective ways of denying the terrorists access to deadly weapons."
Wirajuda did not spell out what the new tactics were, but experts say militants have found smarter ways to cross borders and battered groups seek to win popular support through charity and involvement in sectarian violence.
The two-day conference was chaired by Indonesia and Australia, which have worked closely ever since Muslim militants bombed nightclubs on Indonesia's resort island of Bali in 2002.
Australians were the largest group that was killed in those attacks that left more than 200 dead, mostly foreign tourists. The four other participating countries were Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines.
Warning against complacency
The 2002 bombings have been blamed on Southeast Asian militant network Jemaah Islamiah (JI). Regional authorities believe it was also behind more recent major bombings.
For the first time since 2000, Indonesia went a whole year in 2006 without a large-scale terror attack. However, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer warned against complacency.
"They continue to find support, they continue to make bombs and they continue to recruit operatives to carry out their attacks," he told the conference.
Downer said Muslim extremists like JI seek a world that bans "all forms of entertainment and all trappings of modernity. We need to work together to prevent this kind of society, to reject this extremist ideology," he said.
The meeting is a follow-up to a similar 2004 conference that produced the so-called Bali Counter-Terrorism Process. That included coordination in countering terrorist financing, investigations, prosecutions and intelligence-sharing.
The cooperation has led to the prosecution of hundreds of militants in Indonesia, the killing of JI's alleged top bombmaker and the establishment of a regional counter-terrorism training center for law enforcement officers.
Border control, a headache for Southeast Asian governments given the region's history, shared language, and hard-to-defend sea borders, would be a key discussion topic in the meeting, officials said.
The six nations believe JI is bent on creating an Islamic state across their territories through a campaign of violence.
Around 85 percent of Indonesia's 220 million people follow Islam, making it the world's largest Muslim population. Most Indonesian Muslims are moderates but there is a radical fringe that has been increasingly vocal and media-savvy.