Indonesia, Australia focus on cutting off terror financing

JAKARTA: The Indonesian and Australian governments are continuing cooperation on cybersecurity, mainly to cut off the financial lifelines of terrorists, Indonesia’s Antara news agency reported.

Indonesian Coordinat ing Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Wiranto and Australian Attorney- General George Brandis, as the heads of the countries’ delegations discussed various issues during the 3rd Australian-Indonesia Ministerial Council on Law and Security meeting, here particularly measures that could be taken by both countries to stop terrorism.

“We discussed how Indonesia and Australia can work together to cut off the lifelines of terrorists, as we understand that terrorism can thrive through funding from some parties,” Wiranto noted.

Through the third ministerial council meeting, both Indonesia and Australia are cooperating to find sources of terrorism funding and develop joint measures to cut off their financial lifelines.

“Looking at rapid developments in today’s world, we are fully aware that (terrorism) funding can come from anywhere. Hence, without accusing any country, we are trying to intensify our cooperation on countering terrorism as well as violence and extremism,” Wiranto stated. Brandis emphasised that one of the most important agendas between the two countries’ officials and institutions for maintaining stability and security in the region was working together to develop cybersecurity as an effective tool to cut off the financial lifelines of terrorists.

“The most effective move to combat the threat of terrorism is to cut off funding,” he noted.

To this end, Indonesian and Australian financial intelligence agencies PPATK and Austrac have signed an agreement to focus on countering terrorism financing and money laundering.

According to information released by the Australian Embassy in Indonesia on its website, the PPATK- Austrac Partnership Programme for 2017 is a seven-year collabouration.

It allocates almost US$ 500,000 for six new projects, including deploying IT specialists to strengthen PPATK’s reporting and analysis systems and conducting exchange programmes to enable PPATK experts to learn first-hand from Austrac.

The money will also be spent to hold intensive workshops on crimes specific to terrorism financing and money laundering to enhance investigative and analytic capabilities within the PPATK.

In addition, PPATK and Austrac will launch a new cyber project later this year to enhance Indonesia’s capabilities to counter the rise in online threats. — Bernama