ASEAN urged to combat terrorism to promote stability

JAKARTA  - Indonesia should urge the ASEAN community to consider and counter terrorism as a common issue to promote regional stability, former Indonesian Ambassador to the United Nations Makarim Wibisono said.

"Indonesia should invite the ASEAN community to combat terrorism as a common regional issue. For example, the issue of (the terror acts) in Marawi, southern Philippines, is not just a problem of the Philippines alone but a common challenge," he said, when speaking at the 1st Indonesia International Defense Science Seminar in Sentul, West Java province, on Thursday.

He underlined that Southeast Asia was an entity, and any problem that could disturb the stability and security of the region must be solved jointly.

"For example, it should not just be Indonesia and Malaysia who must seek solution to the issue of Rohingya, but the issue must be addressed together," he stated.

He remarked that a social community like ASEAN society should consider social issues, so that as part of the community, a group of people would not remain silent in the face of disaster faced by other people.

On the occasion, he highlighted human security as one of the important concerns of a good government, as the world was full of uncertain fluctuations and terror acts that could happen everywhere.

Therefore, there was a need for people to be more aware of terrorism issues and development of human resilience.

"Human security in Indonesia could be threatened if the society still doubts and does not rely on the state principle that unites the nation. Hence, we have to ensure the peoples belief on the basis of the nation," he explained.

In addition, the rapid and free flow of global information can also be a challenge towards building human resilience if not addressed wisely.

He emphasized that people must have the intelligence to filter information, so that they would not be easily influenced by information or ideology that goes against the nation's ideology and undermine the unity of the state.

"As we know, the information traffic is hard to resist and hence, it is necessary to provide a perspective that can compensate for threats from abroad," he revealed.

"People should be given the knowledge to carefully act and pay attention to the impact of an action that could destroy the country," he added.

Hence, education and consolidation of the society's mindset against the nation's ideology need to be constantly carried out to be able to create a well-informed nation, he noted.

"A well-informed nation is aware of the community and anticipates the possibility of something that could harms the nation," he stated. (Antara)