The Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN is a non-military alliance established on August 8, 1967 upon signing of the Bangkok declaration. The five Foreign Ministers who signed the ASEAN Declaration were: Adam Malik of Indonesia, Narciso R. Ramos of the Philippines, Tun Abdul Razak of Malaysia, S. Rajaratnam of Singapore, and Thanat Khoman of Thailand.
Brunei Darussalam joined the ASEAN on January 8, 1984, Vietnam on July 28, 1995, Laos and Myanmar on July 23, 1997, and Cambodia on April 30, 1999.
The ASEAN region has a population of about 500 million, a total area of 4.5 million square kilometers, a combined gross domestic product of US$737 billion, and a total trade of US$ 720 billion.
The Association represents the collective will of the nations to bind themselves together in friendship and cooperation and, through joint efforts and sacrifices, secure for their peoples and for posterity the blessings of peace, freedom, and prosperity.
The aims and purposes of the Association are: to accelerate the economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region through joint endeavours in the spirit of equality and partnership in order to strengthen the foundation for a prosperous and peaceful community of Southeast Asian nations, and to promote regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of law in the relationship among countries in the region and adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter.
| STRUCTURES AND MECHANISMS |
| AEM |
ASEAN Economic Ministers |
| AMM |
ASEAN Ministerial Meeting |
| AFMM |
ASEAN Finance Ministers Meeting |
| SEOM |
Senior Economic Officials Meeting |
| ASC |
ASEAN Standing Committee |
| SOM |
Senior Officials Meeting |
| ASFOM |
ASEAN Senior Finance Officials Meeting |
- The highest decision-making body in ASEAN is the annual meeting of the ASEAN Heads of State and Government. Whenever decided, the ASEAN Summit is preceded by a Joint Ministerial Meeting (JMM) composed of Foreign and Economic Ministers.
- The ASEAN Standing Committee, under the Chairmanship of the Foreign Minister of the country-in-chair, is mandated to coordinate the work of the Association in between the annual ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM). The ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (Foreign Ministers) meets annually.
- Ministerial meetings on several other sectors are also held: agriculture and forestry, economics, energy, environment, finance, information, investment, labour, law, regional haze, rural development and poverty alleviation, science and technology, social welfare, transnational crime, transportation, tourism, youth, the AIA Council and, the AFTA Council. Supporting these ministerial bodies are 29 committees of senior officials and 122 technical working groups.
- At first, the ASEAN organization was limited only to economic, social and cultural cooperation. Later on, it became concerned with the abuse of narcotics and trafficking in illegal drugs.
- The expansion and diversification of transnational crime to include terrorism, arms smuggling, money laundering, illegal migration and piracy brought by the modernization and industrialization of the ASEAN nations has intensified the importance of police collaboration at the bilateral and regional levels.
- In 1981, the police forces of ASEAN agreed to organize an association to be called Association of Southeast Asian Chiefs of Police or ASEANAPOL, a police cooperation within the formal ambit of the ASEAN organization to minimize criminality in the region.
- It aims to enhance police professionalism, forge stronger regional cooperation in police work and promote lasting friendship among police officers of ASEAN countries.
- The ASEANAPOL was considered as the first major and positive step taken by the ASEAN law enforcers.
- The first ASEANAPOL Conference called ASEANAPOL ’81 was hosted by the then Philippine Constabulary-Integrated National Police now known as the Philippine National Police on October 20 to 24, 1981. The meeting was attended by the Chiefs of National Police of four ASEAN nations: Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Philippines, the Deputy Chief of Indonesian National Police.
- Other ASEAN member countries joined the ASEANAPOL: Brunei Darussalam, 5th ASEANAPOL Conference, 1985; Vietnam, 16th ASEANAPOL Conference, 1996; Laos and Myanmar, observer during the 17th ASEANAPOL Conference in 1997 but formally joined the association during the 18th ASEANAPOL Conference in 1998; and Cambodia, in 2000 during the 20th ASEANAPOL Conference.
- After twenty-four years, ASEANAPOL has grown from the original five Chiefs of Police who kicked off the ground to strengthen regional police cooperation to a solid force of the ASEAN TEN, signaling the emergence of a regional alliance that is determined to secure not only our own individual sovereignties but also the peace and progress of our community.
- The ASEANAPOL conference is hosted annually by the ASEAN member countries on a rotation basis. Delegates from the ten (10) ASEAN member countries headed by their chiefs of police were present during the meeting, as regular members, as well as ASEAN Secretariat and representatives from Interpol, as observers. During the 23rd and 24th ASEANAPOL conference chiefs of police of the Australian Federal Police and New Zealand Police also attended the said meeting.
- ASEANAPOL efforts have been geared towards the promotion of the institutionalization of regional police cooperation and collaboration and tasked to support the development of new and innovative techniques of police administration and management which would involve continuous study /research in the area of police administration and public safety in management in order to cope with the increasing sophistication of criminals.
- It has established three (3) Ad-hoc commissions dealing with illicit drug trafficking, mutual assistance in criminal matters, terrorism, arms smuggling, economic and financial crimes, credit card fraud, extradition and arrangements of handling over of criminal offenders and fugitives.
- It has taken initiatives to combat new forms of transnational crime such as fraudulent travel documents, transnational fraud, cyber crimes, human trafficking and maritime fraud.
- The ASEANAPOL has also established its own database system to enable the member countries to exchange information and provide further means of accessing the computerized systems at the INTERPOL General Secretariat.
- The topics in this conference are mainly focused on significant crimes that cause enormous damage to the member countries which need an effective and cooperative response from ASEAN nations because the damage will affect social, economic and political fundamentals for the future development of ASEAN.
- Coordination and co-operation have been ongoing among the ASEAN police forces:
ON ILLICIT DRUG TRAFFICKING
- Efforts were made by the ASEAN countries to establish cooperative mechanism to provide resolution to problems arising from crimes, particularly in the area of increasing bilateral and multilateral cooperation with countries both inside and outside the region in order to exchange intelligence about trafficking and sale of illicit drugs, related trends, modus operandi, identification and suppression cooperation.
- Seminars and training were held for police forces and law enforcement agencies as follows:
- Sub-regional drug enforcement workshop held in Myanmar on July 23 to 26, 2001;
- Training for police officers on total approach for illicit drug control, held in Singapore on October 22 to 27, 2001;
- Golden Triangle border cooperation workshop, held on December 10 to 11, 2001 in Thailand;
- Drug strategy workshop, held on December 12 to 14, 2001 in Thailand; and
- Maritime Drug Interdiction Training.
ON MUTUAL ASSISTANCE ON CRIMINAL MATTERS
- Bilateral agreement and mutual legal assistance in criminal matters is considered valuable tool in the fight against crimes.
- Mutual assistance on criminal matters is a special instrument used by international community to combat crimes. It aims to cooperate with and assist other countries in fighting international and transnational crimes to provide mutual assistance in connection with investigations, prosecutions and other proceedings relating to criminal matters.
- Resolutions were adopted by the ASEAN Chiefs of National Police, such as:
- Enactment of Mutual Assistance on Criminal Matters Act or MACMA by the respective governments of the member countries. The Act on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters is an important legislation in providing assistance in criminal matters to foreign states.
The type of assistance provided will include but not be limited to:
- Taking the testimony and statement of person;
- Providing information, documents, records and evidences;
- Serving documents;
- executing requests for searches and seizures;
- transferring persons in custody for facilitating the appearance of others in the Requesting State for testimonial purposes;
- Locating persons or objects;
- Initiating proceedings upon request; and
- Assistance in forfeiture proceedings.
- Designate police liaison officer or police attaché in the ASEAN region as primary point of contact of foreign counterparts abroad, tasked to gather information, enhance police cooperation and maintain linkages through liaisoning and intelex to combat transnational crimes and terrorism.
- Among the major accomplishments of OPA Posts are the hand-over of criminals/terrorist:
- Mr. Nur Misuari, former Governor of the Autonomous Region together with seven (7) others on November 2001;
- Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) leader Ashraf Kunting on June 9, 2003;
- Repatriation of Mr. Noel Cuenco Y Neri, on February 19, 2002; and
- Arrest of Mas Selamat bin Kastari, Head of Jamaah Islamiyah of Singapore.
ON TERRORISM
- After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States which led to the loss of innocent lives of people of various nationalities and destruction of properties, the ASEANAPOL decided to include again the topic on terrorism in the agenda of the 22nd ASEANAPOL conference.
- The ASEAN Chiefs of Police agreed to work closely with the region as well as with the international community to strengthen cooperation in preventing and combating terrorism.
- Efforts were made by the ASEAN governments and law enforcers to address the great threat of terrorism.
- Meetings and seminars were held to identify measures and strategies to combat terrorism such as:
- ASEAN workshop on Anti-Terrorism held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on August 18 to 20, 2003;
- Workshop on Combating Terrorism held in Indonesia on January 20 to 23, 2003; and
- International Conference on Anti-terrorism and the rehabilitation of tourism industry held in Manila last November 2002;
- Countries in the region have also greatly strengthened regional and international cooperation through:
- Utilization of technology for information exchange in investigation of terrorist activities between Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore;
- Agreement to establish communication procedures and information exchange between Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia which is also supported by Cambodia and Thailand;
- Signing of anti-terrorism memorandum between ASEAN and other countries.
ON ASEANAPOL DATABASE SYSTEM
- The ASEANAPOL has also established its own database system. It was proposed during the 11th ASEANAPOL Conference held in Singapore on May 5 to 9, 1991. The Royal Malaysian Police proposed that a computerized ASEANAPOL Database System (ADS) should be implemented to facilitate the exchange of criminal information among the ASEAN members, namely: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
- The concept of the proposed system was endorsed during the 12th ASEANAPOL conference on August 2 to 6, 1992. A technical committee comprising of representatives from the participating countries was formed to define the system and operational requirements and to oversee the implementation of the system. The first Technical Committee meeting was hosted by the Royal Malaysian Police on June 23 to 24, 1992.
- The official launch of the system was held in Brunei during the 18th ASEANAPOL conference on May 24 to 27, 1998.
- Vietnam was officially accepted as one of the participating countries of the ADS at the 18th ASEANAPOL conference.
- Myanmar became a member of ADS Technical Committee at the 20th ASEANAPOL conference held in Myanmar on May 8 to 10, 2004.
- Three working groups are held annually before the technical working group meeting. This was proposed by the members of the working group of the 13th ADSTWG and was agreed upon by the Chiefs of Police during the 23rd ASEANAPOL conference in 2003.
- The first working group meeting – requirement analysis, system definition, etc;
- Second working group meeting – software development and implementation, with the hosting site visit; and
- Third working group meeting – user training, acceptance test and reliability test.
- The Electronic-ASEANAPOL Database System (e-ADS), is a computer network that covers the police forces of the eight participating ASEAN countries, namely: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Laos and Cambodia are still non-members of the ADSTWG.
- The system aims to provide an effective means for the collection, coordination, exchange and dissemination of operational intelligence and information among the participating ASEAN National Central Bureaus (NCBs).
- System objectives:
- To ensure e-ADS NCBs to exchange criminal information in a rapid, reliable and secure manner using computer facilities;
- To provide uniformity in the types of data to be kept by the NCB members and to foster better cooperation and exchange of information using computer facilities;
- To provide means of interfacing with I-24/7, the computerized system of Interpol; and
- To provide an e-community to develop, foster and build interaction within ASEAN countries and create sense of belonging.
ON THE EXCHANGE OF PERSONNEL AND TRAINING PROGRAMMES
- The Royal Malaysian Police designed the Joint ASEAN Senior Officers Course (JASPOC) and conducted the inaugural course in 1992 with the theme “Comparative Policing in ASEAN”
- OBJECTIVES:
- Develop an appreciation of criminal justice systems and police organizations in each country in ASEAN;
- Develop and appreciation of criminal laws and processes in each country in ASEAN;
- Develop an understanding of the mechanics of practical co-operation with each country in ASEAN; and
- Develop an appreciation of comparative approaches to tackling police professional issues such as managerial issues in policing, investigations, command and control of large scale operations and police training and manpower development in each country in ASEAN.
- The Royal Thai Police hosted the 12th JASPOC on March 10 to April 14, 2003 attended by 19 participants from Brunei, Cambodia, Myanmar, Lao, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore together with 5 participants and 10 observers from Thailand.
- Civil Aviation’s Emergency Management was conducted by Singapore on July 21 to 25, 2003, included in the training course were Intelligence Analysis, Post-Blast Investigation and Explosive and Bomb Detection.
- Other trainings and workshops are:
- ASEANAPOL Counter-Terrorism Workshop on Detection of Explosives and Suicide Bombers on March 23-25, 2004;
- ASEANAPOL Counter-Terrorism Workshop on Post-Blast Investigations on February 16 to 20, 2004;
- ASEANAPOL Counter-Terrorism Workshop on Intelligence Analysis held in September 22-25, 2003; and
- Counter-Terrorism Workshop: Managing Civil Aviation Security in Turbulent Times conducted by Singapore Aviation Academy on July 21-25, 2003;
- First ASEANAPOL Shootfest was held in Manila, Philippines on July 15 to 17, 2004 which was agreed upon during the 23rd ASEANAPOL conference. Five (5) participants each from eight (8) ASEAN member countries were present during the said event, namely: Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and Philippines.
- 2nd Shootfest/Competition will be held in Indonesia in 2005.
ON JOINT COMMUNIQUE
- The Chief of National Police sign the Joint Communique (JC) at the end of every Conference.
- JC contains the agreements/resolutions arrived at during he Conference.
- It serves as the ASEANAPOL history
OTHER CONCERNS ON MARITIME FRAUD
- Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines-East ASEAN Growth Area or BIMP-EAGA was established on March 24, 1994 to expand economic cooperation in the border areas of all four countries which has a combine land area of 1.5 million square kilometers and a population of 57 million.
- The 12th Senior Officials Meeting of BIMP-EAGA/9th Ministerial Meeting (MM) is scheduled on November 24 to 26, 2004. This year marks the first decade of the existence and operationalization of BIMP-EAGA.
- Border crossing/boarder patrol agreement between the Philippines and Malaysia was established in 1987 with the following objectives:
- To promote and merge the orderly movement of goods, services and persons;
- To prevent illegal activities including piracy, smuggling, drug trafficking and undocumented migration; and
- To advance the concept of an East ASEAN Growth Area.
- A joint committee on boarder cooperation was established under the said agreement. The first meeting was held in Manila on December 6 to 10, 1993.
- RP-Malaysia Border Patrol Coordinating Group (BPCG) Pre-planning discuss the agenda for the RP-Malaysia BRCG meeting of the Chairman and members. Both meetings are held annually.
- Joint Philippine-Malaysia (PHILMAL) Exercise conducted twice a year. The 1st Border Patrol Operations/PHILMAL IX was held on July 19 to 28, 2004 while the 2nd Border Patrol Operations/PHILMAL X is scheduled on November 22 to 27, 2004.
- Other Bilateral/Multilateral Agreement among ASEAN members.
- To address the rampant increase of Illicit Drug Trafficking, drug enforcement agencies should exchange and provide information/intelligence regularly to monitor and dismantle international and regional drug trafficking syndicates.
- Over the years, maritime fraud had resulted in huge losses not only in the ASEAN region but internationally. Police Forces in the ASEAN have to work closely with each other in our joint-effort to stamp out such crimes. Increased regional cooperation in handling Maritime Fraud by implementing:
- Intelligence sharing, setting up a database on maritime fraud reported in the ASEAN region; and
- Coordination of investigation, appointing a liaison in each member country to coordinate any cross-border investigations and facilitate exchange of information.
- ASEAN region should establish a comprehensive mechanism in order to strengthen the cooperation particularly, the bilateral and multilateral treaty of mutual assistance on criminal matters. The effective way of dealing with the complex aspects and serious consequences of crime.
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