PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak yesterday underlined six principles for effective regional defence and security cooperation among Asean countries.
First, he said it was extremely important for a multi-state engagement grouping like Asean to fully recognise the role of each member state, be it rich or poor, small or big.
In addition, he said the role of extra-regional stakeholders, which had significant interests in the region, could not be ignored, particularly in this era of globalised environment.
“In essence, cooperative arrangements need to be inclusive and all stakeholders must be given adequate space and respect in addressing any issues.
“Past experiences have shown that inclusive arrangements, much like the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, have proven effective in keeping peace and in responding to regional security challenges in cooperative and non-escalatory ways,” he said when opening the Putrajaya Forum here yesterday.
The inaugural forum is aimed at promoting solutions on regional defence and security issues through the sharing of knowledge, perspectives and discussion among participants.
The forum is themed “Emerging Regional Security Architecture” amid the emergence of a new regional security arrangement, the Asean-8.
Also present was Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Najib said the second principle was for Asean countries to recognise that every member country of the Asean Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM-Plus) has different historical, cultural and economic position.
As such, he said the arrangements should be flexible and take into account the different capabilities and policies of each member.
He said stakeholders must also be allowed to contribute in accordance with their capacity.
“The cooperative arrangements must have the flexibility to allow countries with different niche capabilities, expertise, cultural links and resources to form functional groupings that are best able to respond to common security concerns,” he said.
The prime minister said confidence building measures also need to be placed to foster a deeper dialogue and understanding between partners.
In the absence of such understanding, he said “benign action by one state could easily be misinterpreted in a very hostile manner by neighbours”, leading to a reluctance to cooperate, or worse, to outright conflict.
“In order to avoid such misunderstandings, countries will need to engage each other in dialogue on security issues at various levels and different fora.
I strongly believe that we are now very much on the right track to facilitate these requirements,” he said. — Bernama