Manila: Leaders of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines will firm up border security to stop the activities of militant Filipino-Muslim pirates based in the southern Philippines who have pledged allegiance to Daesh, Philippines officials said.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak will meet in late August ahead of the leaders’ summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Laos, said presidential peace adviser Jesus Dureza, adding the two leaders will focus on cutting down increasing piracy by the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG).
Duterte will also meet with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, said Dureza, but did not say if they will meet before or on the sidelines of the ASEAN leaders’ summit in Laos.
“A secure sea lane shared by Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines would protect them from ASG’s piracy,” explained Dureza, adding, “We share common borders with Malaysia, Indonesia and also possible threat from ISIS [Daesh].”
The Southeast Asian leaders are “all set to draft the agreement,” said Dureza, but did not give details.
Earlier, on May 5, defence and foreign ministers of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines signed the “Joint Declaration on Immediate Measures to Address Security Issues in the Maritime Areas of Common Concern among Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines” in Yogyakarta to stop the abductions of the ASG in the Celebes and Sulu Seas, including Malacca Strait.
In 2002, the three countries signed a similar agreement to strengthen border security in response to ASG’s increasing cross-border attacks. About $40 billion (Dh147 billion) worth of traded cargo passes annually through the Celebes Sea, Sulu Sea, and Malacca Strait.
The ASG was blamed for four incidents of abductions of Indonesian and Malaysian crewmen from March to June.
Because of the kidnappings done by the ASG, Indonesia and Malaysia extended a ban on small vessels that carry coal, goods and food supplies to the southern Philippines. The Philippines imports 90 per cent of its coal requirement from Indonesia. Basilan and Tawi-Tawi, in southern Philippines, imports 80 per cent of its food and goods from Sabah, Malaysia.
For more than 15 years, ASG’s high profile kidnap-for-ransom activities locally and trans-nationally have brought in millions of dollars that have fuelled its terror activities with modernised boats, communication equipment, and high-powered weapons.
The menace of the ASG has remained strong even after the United States has started extending intelligence information to the Philippines military’s southern command in 2001.
