Malaysia is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the ASEAN and East Asia summits go without any hitch. In the wake of the recent terror attacks in Paris and Turkey, the Malaysian government has beefed up security across the country, including all strategic points.
The twin summits, which will take place at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, will also see the attendance of leaders from the regional body’s dialogue partner countries, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.
“The number of security personnel is being increased to ensure safety,” Malaysia’s Home Minister Ahmad Zahid said. He reassured Malaysians that the authorities were closely monitoring intelligence channels to ensure that the country remained safe.
The growing tentacles of the radical terror group Islamic State (IS) has increased security concerns worldwide. In the past, Malaysia has detained many sympathisers of the IS. Malaysia is also strengthening intelligence cooperation with other countries to combat the rise in terrorism. “The Defence Ministry will obtain the full information of the attack from the French authorities. At the same time, Malaysia will continue to strengthen the cooperation in intelligence with several countries in the effort to tackle terrorism,” Malaysia’s Defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein said.
Stressing on strengthening intelligence gathering, Mr Hussein said: “The attack can occur in any country in the world. What happened in Paris proves that the threat of terrorism was present and cannot be taken lightly.” Elaborating on reports of how the IS terror group had targeted known figures in the country, he confirmed the threats saying, “I confirmed that IS want to target our leaders including myself but it will not scare us or stop us in fighting terror not only in the country but the region as well.”
Combating terrorism will figure high on the agenda of the ASEAN and East Asia summits. The joint declaration of the twin summits will lay out a roadmap for strengthening counter-terror cooperation in the region.
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