Closeness, Understandng Among ASEAN Countries Can Help Counter Terrorism

KLUANG (Johor, Malaysia), Nov 8 (Bernama) -- The closeness among ASEAN countries built through joint military exercise each year has forged regional understanding, which could help in the fight against the Daesh terrorist threat in the region. Army field commander, Lt Gen. Zulkiple Kassim said Malaysia had conducted joint military exercise with almost all the ASEAN countries including Brunei, Thailand and Indonesia. "The joint exercise is held frequently each year as it is viewed from the aspect of building regional understanding. It is one of the platforms for us (in facing regional threats." He said this to reporters after the opening of the Semangat Bersatu Series 22/2016 exercise between the Malaysian Army and Singapore Army at Batu 3 Camp, here, Monday. According to him, through regional undertanding, various multilateral activities could be arranged between ASEAN countries in tackling the issue. "...the IS (Daesh) threat is a threat to all the regional countries. I believe each country has its own approach in combating the IS threat, and Malaysia is always wary and watching closely the developments on IS. "I believe Singapore is also facing a clear threat from IS and the Singapore government too has various ways to tackle the problem," he said. Zulkiple also said that as usual, the focus of the exercise was on offensive war to ensure a high level of preparedness of members of the military. The Semangat Bersatu series of exercise, seen as being able to raise the knowledge and skills of the participants in facing uncertain threats in future, started in 1989. The exercise this time, for 11 days, involves 86 officers and 777 members of the Malaysian Army and 11 officers and 111 members of the Singapore Army. --BERNAMA