ASIA PACIFIC NATIONS SHOULD INNOVATE DEFENCE IN COMBATING TERRORISM

SINGAPORE, April 12 (Bernama) -- Security officials from the Asia-Pacific
countries should up the ante in their fight against transnational terrorism, a
Singapore senior minister in charge of national security said Monday.

Prof S.Jayakumar said violent terrorism attacks in several places around the
world, citing Indonesia, Pakistan and the United States, went unabated for the
past year even though security initiatives were taken to combat them.

Opening the five-day 4th Asia-Pacific Programme for Senior National Security
Officers (APPSNO) on Sentosa Island here, he said "these are all grim reminders
of the terrorists' determination and adaptability."

The minister said the attackers' ability to adjust methods and tactics to
outwit and overcome each of the advances in security measures did pose an
ongoing challenge for the authorities.

"So it is no assurance that what has worked up to now will work for us in
the future," Jayakumar said, adding that to stay ahead of the adversary, the
security authorities must continuously innovate and expand their defences.

"We will have to be as nimble as the terrorist, and be able to think as he
does, in order to protect our hard-won security," he added.

More than 50 participants from 17 countries are taking part in the programme
jointly organised by the National Security Coordination Secretariat and the S.
Rajaratnam School of International Studies, to discuss and deliberate on the
latest trends and thinking around a particularly relevant theme.

Jayakumar said one of the ways to tackle terrorism was by mainstreaming
counter-terrorism, which was more than just getting non-security related
government bodies, private sector companies and the public to cooperate with
security agencies, but by engaging the community to establish a cultural norm of
being vigilant and rejecting extremism and violence.

He said that if they succeeded in mainstreaming the whole nation, they would
be able to build a society that was more cohesive and less susceptible to
radical ideas, and which possessed the resilience to recover rapidly in the
aftermath of an attack.

Saying that mainstreaming was not an easy process as it involved changing
attitudes and mindsets, the minister added that radical violent ideology was
the enemy, and not cultures, communities, ethnic groups or religions.
-- BERNAMA