KUALA LUMPUR: Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said there was a need to have a robust regional security architecture to promote peaceful accommodation between states and to facilitate effective transnational cooperation.
He said these structures must serve the objectives of building trust, and pre-empting and resolving potential conflicts.
“It must be open and inclusive to all stakeholders, big or small. It must ensure that all stakeholders have a seat at the table.
“This encourages countries to engage constructively in dialogue and tackle regional security challenges together,” he said in his keynote address titled ‘Emerging Regional Security Threats’ at the Putrajaya Forum 2014, here, yesterday.
With the theme, ‘Strengthening Security and Regional Stability’, the forum is organised in conjunction with the 14th Defence Services Asia (DSA) Exhibition and Conference from yesterday until April 17.
Hishammuddin said that one of the biggest challenges to peace in this region came in the form of territorial disputes, with the most obvious among these being the South China Sea and East China Sea issues. He said these were of course complex, emotive issues for all the countries involved but these disagreements must be subject to and resolved through international norms and laws.
“By building trust where we have common interests, practical cooperation and sustained dialogue will help us to work through disagreements and allow us to tackle the emerging transnational security challenges within the region,” he said.
Hishammuddin said through strength of cooperation and coordination among law enforcement authorities across the region and with third countries as well as Europol and Interpol, every dispute could be managed and resolved peacefully and diplomatically, as opposed to the use of any form of force or coercion.
“As long as that happens, I believe this region and the external countries with interests in it will continue to prosper,” he said.
The minister also said that only unity and cooperation could help nations rise to overcome the transnational nature of the emerging threats to maritime security and environmental security, and the threats from cyber attacks.
“By recognising the emergence of these new challenges, it is clear that no one country, no matter how well-resourced, can solve these problems on its own simply because these threats cut across national boundaries.
“States need to come to terms with this new reality and start looking beyond their borders to maintain peace and stability.
“In our case, Malaysia’s primary platform for regional cooperation is Asean,” he said, adding that Malaysia was one of its founding members in 1967 and Asean had always been the cornerstone of Malaysia’s foreign policy.
Touching on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 which has captured the attention of the world, Hishammuddin said the incident was totally unprecedented as was the scale and scope of the subsequent search-and-rescue (SAR) effort. — Bernama