Southeast Asia unites to counter ISIS

Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines to stem movement of militants across their porous borders

Southeast Asian nations plan to use spy planes and drones to stem the movement of militants across their porous borders, defence officials said at the weekend, as concerns rise over the growing clout of ISIS in the region.

Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines said they will launch joint air patrols this month at their shared boundaries in the Sulu Sea, in addition to existing maritime patrols.

Authorities in the region have urged greater cooperation to counter the fallout from a raging battle with ISIS-linked militants in the southern Philippines, the biggest warning yet that the ultra-radical group is building a base in Southeast Asia.

“Our open borders are being exploited by terrorist groups to facilitate personnel and material,” Le Luong Minh, SecretaryGeneral of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) told the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual security forum in Singapore.

The region is home to 600 million people and includes Indonesia, which has the world’s highest number of Muslims. Authorities in both Indonesia and Malaysia, also Muslim-majority, have said thousands of their citizens are sympathisers of ISIS and hundreds are believed to have travelled to Syria to join the extremist group.

Indonesia blamed ISIS

for bombings last month that killed three police officers, the latest in a series of low-level attacks by the militants in the last 17 months.

In recent months, dozens of fighters from Indonesia and Malaysia have crossed from their countries to Mindanao in the southern Philippines, intelligence officials have said, easily passing through waters that have often been lawless and plagued by pirates. Mindanao is the one region in the largely Catholic Philippines to have a significant Muslim minority.

Asean made a joint pledge with the US on the sidelines of the Shangri-La forum to help Philippines overcome the militant assault in Marawi. “What featured strongly in the USAsean meet was the pledge by both US and Asean members that we stand ready to help Philippines... whether it’s information, intelligence or otherwise,” said Singaporean defence minister Ng Eng Hen.

Regional powers will launch air patrols this month at their shared boundaries in addition to maritime patrols

Asean made a joint pledge with the US to help Philippines overcome the militant assault in Marawi