Singapore is working closely with Indonesia to get more support at an Asean meeting later this month for the building of a regional counter-terrorism intelligence-sharing network, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen disclosed yesterday.

The proposed platform comes amid the continuing terror threat facing Singapore, Dr Ng said.

… Yesterday, he met Indonesian Defence Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu on the sidelines of the 2018 South-east Asia Counter-Terrorism Symposium, organised by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel.

… RSIS international relations professor Tan See Seng said getting all 10 Asean members to cooperate could prove challenging, given the region’s trust deficit and potentially conflicting threat perceptions.

“Where going beyond Asean is concerned, countries like Australia and the United States have played important roles since the 2002 Bali attacks in exchanging information and intelligence with Asean states. It therefore makes good sense to include the Plus countries, whose security collaborations with the Asean members pre-date the ADMM-Plus.”