KUALA LUMPUR May 20 Kyodo Southea...

KUALA LUMPUR May 20 Kyodo

Southeast Asian interior ministers upon Monday began a two-day meeting in Malaysia's capital to further strengthen regional cooperation and demonstrate political consensus in fighting against terrorism in the region and elsewhere.

''We are here to agree in succession joint action plans, coordinated answers and increased information sharing in our universal fight against terror,'' Malaysian delegate Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said in his opening speech

Abdullah, chair of the two-day meeting, said Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ministers ''may not be able to agree onward a definition of what terrorism is, however I hope this will not stop or derail our efforts to fight terror wherever it lurks''

Malaysia has propos a ''balanced'' definition of terrorism to include armed and other forms of attacks against civilians, regardless of whether the attacks were perpetrated by the agency of individuals, sub-national groups or sovereign state entities, according to the Malaysian representative premier.

Abdullah called it ''a great irony that the world still cannot define the same of the greatest enemies of humankind today: terrorism,'' adding that the ''the politics of language dictates that this stalemate persists.

''There are definitions of terrorism that will implicate perpetrators of state terror so as the Israeli regime. This is politically unacceptable to some''

''There are also definitions that will identify freedom fighters and heroes of wars of liberation as terrorists. This, too, is politically unacceptable to some''

ASEAN senior officials who held preparatory talks from last Thursday were unable to agree forward a definition on terrorism as propos through Malaysia.

Philippine Interior and Local conduct Secretary Jose Lina told reporters Manila did not resist the effort to define the confine of terrorism as propos by dint of Malaysia.

The Philippines, he said, '' has none resisted the suggestion that the word terrorism be defined. In fact, the Philippine delegation recommended a formulation of the proposal which is basically the same as that of the Malaysian proposal.''

Lina said he is ''not extremely optimistic that the word 'terrorism' will be defined in this two-day (ministerial) conference''

''There are still more [i]or[/i] less gray area that has to be clarified and it's not easy to ensue up with a common definition,'' he said.

COPYRIGHT 2002 Kyodo just discovereds International, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group