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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, August 29, 2003

Malaysia, Indonesia Pledge to Cooperate against Terrorism

Malaysia and Indonesia have pledged to strengthen cooperation by sharing information and intelligence in the fight against terrorism.


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Malaysia and Indonesia have pledged to strengthen cooperation by sharing information and intelligence in the fight against terrorism.

The pledge was made by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri at their annual summit in Kuching, east Malaysia, on Thursday.

"Ya, we discussed peace and security," the Prime Minister said at a joint news conference with the President at the end of their Kuching summit.

Replying to a question as to what specific measures against terrorism they discussed at their nearly two hours of talks, Mahathir said it was about stepping up cooperation in the exchange of information.

President Megawati, meanwhile, said such close cooperation was vital as terrorism "can be perpetrated by anyone, anywhere at anytime."

On the suggestion that Indonesia was not doing enough to check terrorism, Megawati said terrorist activities were not confined to Indonesia but occurred in other countries as well.

"There have been bombing incidents in several countries...what we should consider now is how far are we in the effort to handle this problem," she said.

The President said it would be difficult for countries to fight terrorism on their own and hence Indonesia would propose the setting up of the "ASEAN Security Community Council" (ASCC) at the upcoming ASEAN Summit in October in Bali.

The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), grouping ten countries in the area, was set up in 1967 to boost regional security and cooperation.

"We need a mechanism such as ASCC to effect concrete cooperation in the handling of the terrorism problem," she said.

The annual Malaysia-Indonesia consultations at the top level is aimed at strengthening bilateral cooperation in various fields. Indonesia will host the annual bilateral summit next year.


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