Intervention by Minister for Defence, Dr Ng Eng Hen, at the Informal Policy Dialogue on Regional Security Issues

Esteemed colleagues,

Secretary Carter, thank you for hosting the US - ASEAN Defense Ministers. For this informal dialogue, let me focus on two key security concerns in our region. 

First, terrorism. The global fight against extremist terrorists continues and is expected to occupy our attention and efforts for the foreseeable future, at least for the next two decades. There will be varying intensities, changed players as it did from Al-Qaeda to ISIS, but this fight against extremists who want to disrupt our way of life, sow discord among peace loving communities, breed religious intolerance and disrupt multi-ethnic harmony continues. Southeast Asia is a prime target for ISIS, with more than 1,000 foreign fighters in ISIS from this region. Networks between operatives in ISIS and our region are well-established. There have been small-scale attacks in Malaysia and Indonesia, and a plot to attack Singapore, which Indonesian authorities disrupted. ISIS has also launched Al-Fatihin, a Malay-language newspaper customised for Muslims in Southeast Asia, to spread its propaganda and ideology. Even if ISIS is dismembered in Iraq and Syria, returning fighters to our region will pose a continuing threat. 

Terrorist camps have been reported in Southern Philippines and Central Sulawesi in Indonesia. These cells are also using maritime routes to smuggle weapons and people out, including into Indonesia and beyond. To disrupt these cells and smuggling routes, individual countries within ASEAN have called for joint efforts and intelligence sharing to be stepped up. I am glad that there has been progress on these efforts. Singapore applauds the efforts of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines in forming the joint Sulu Sea Patrols. 

Singapore has offered our Navy's Information Fusion Centre, which some of you have visited, to facilitate information-sharing between the countries involved in the Sulu Sea Patrols, to help put together a coherent maritime situation picture to support the patrols. We encourage other countries, including the US, to also lend support to such initiatives. 

Singapore also congratulates Indonesia and the TNI for their successful counter-terrorism efforts, including the killing of Santoso, a key terrorist and leader of the Mujahidin Indonesia Timur, or Mujahideen of East Indonesia. 

We should press on and step up collective efforts against terrorism. Singapore was pleased to co-host, together with Brunei, Australia and New Zealand, the recent ADMM-Plus Maritime Security and Counter-Terrorism Exercise which involved all 18 ADMM-Plus countries, including all the countries here today. I look forward to the US sharing with the ASEAN Defence Ministers its experiences against ISIS and associated groups, including the fight in the cyber domain. 

Let me now move on to HADR. The Asia-Pacific continues to be the world's most disaster-prone region. No country has the resources to deal with these alone and we need to bring together regional and extra-regional partners for an effective and coordinated response. 

The 2014 US-ASEAN informal dialogue held in Honolulu too, prompted Singapore to offer to host a regional HADR coordination centre to plug the gap to co-ordinate disaster relief by militaries. In the last two years, and with your strong support, the Changi Regional HADR Coordination Centre, or RHCC has been established and made steady progress. In fact, the Changi RHCC has already been deployed operationally, most notably to support the Nepalese military in the aftermath of the earthquake last year. The RHCC has also now established a network among militaries beyond ADMM to include ADMM-Plus countries, such as India and China, EU countries, and international and regional organisations, such as the United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance hosted by Indonesia, and the ASEAN Centre for Military Medicine hosted by Thailand. 

This network of military and non-military agencies can be a powerful tool to help us co-ordinate and bring our combined resources to bear when natural disasters strike. Having established these linkages, the RHCC's next focus is to embark on table-top exercises to enhance interoperability and confidence-building. In January 2017, the RHCC together with the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the US Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance will jointly organise a HADR table-top exercise called Exercise Coordinated Response. We look forward to your support and participation in this exercise. 

Fellow Defence Ministers, transboundary security challenges whether against terrorism or responding to natural disasters require our collective capabilities. I am glad that this informal dialogue provides an added avenue to share ideas and practices to increase our effectiveness together.