SEA’s loose borders weakest link in regional war on terrorism

HONG KONG (AFP) – Southeast Asia’s national borders, already notoriously porous for smugglers of everything from drugs to guns and women, are proving to be a weak link in the regional war on terrorism.

Two incidents in the past week have illustrated the ease with which terrorists can move explosives and personnel by sea among the thousands of islands which dot the vast area around the mainland.

Security forces in Malaysia’s eastern Sabah state on Borneo island are on full alert after at least 10 members of the Abu Sayyaf Muslim kidnap group reportedly fled there by speed boat from the southern Philippines.

They snuck out of Patikul on the island of Jolo, fleeing a military offensive against the stronghold of the gang linked by both Washington and Manila to the al-Qaeda network, a Philippine intelligence report said.

And Indonesian police announced Sunday that the navy had seized a barge carrying explosives and detonators from Malaysia across the Strait of Malacca to the troubled province of Aceh, where rebels have been fighting a separatist war.

Thailand, which had made strenuous efforts to distance itself from the terrorist threat in the wake of the Oct. 12 Bali bombings in Indonesia, has admitted that terrorists may have slipped into the kingdom over the past 12 months to avoid a clampdown in neighboring Malaysia.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said that because Thailand receives huge numbers of tourists it was possible that terrorists may have entered the country unnoticed.

Like those of many other Southeast Asian states, Thailand’s immigration records are not comprehensively computerized, so details of blacklisted or wanted people are only available at the major border crossings, an immigration department official told AFP.

"The cabinet has just approved a budget of 249 million baht ($4.7 million) for a computer system for the immigration department which is expected to be installed after 2003," he said.

Nationals from 96 countries are entitled to visas on arrival in Thailand, a measure aimed at boosting the flow of tourists into the country.

Malaysia has a more sophisticated immigration control system but also seeks to make travel easy for tourists and citizens of many countries, including those in the Middle East, do not need visas.

Until a crackdown this year, the relatively-rich country was host to more than half-a-million illegal immigrant workers, many of whom slipped over sea or land borders where there are no checkpoints.

Muhamad Muda, Malaysian marine commander, told AFP that the country had introduced a new strategy to combat illegal immigration.

"A four layer security plan is in place now to ensure total security. We have placed patrol ships in the international waters, coastal boats and security men at strategic coast lines and on land."

But the southern Philippines is often referred to as the "backdoor" of the country, from where Filipino migrants travel to Malaysian and Indonesian islands by boat without going through official channels.

While Malaysia and the Philippines have stepped up joint border patrols, the recent intelligence report on fleeing Abu Sayyaf rebels, who have not been captured, shows that the task of sealing the frontiers is almost impossible.

Controlling movement within and out of Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, poses an even greater problem for the country’s ill-equipped navy, airforce and army.