Thailand seeks closer Asean intel-sharing

Indonesia has identified so-called Islamic State (IS) suicide bombers and gunmen as being behind the siege near a busy shopping district in the Indonesian capital that left seven dead including five attackers.

Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said more intelligence cooperation was urgently needed now that the IS brand of terrorism had entered the Asean region.

“We have to exchange more intelligence information on the issue because what happened in Indonesia showed that the IS network is already in our region.” Apart from Thailand and Indonesia, the other Asean members are Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Philippines and Vietnam. Prawit said although no IS members had been found on Thai soil, the country should not be lax in protecting its people.

“The attack took place near Thailand but we are confident, we could take good care of it,” he said. “The authorities concerned have intensified their measures and screening to ensure no people of ill-intent sneak into our country.”

He called for the public to be the eyes and the ears of officials and for people to report to the authorities if they see something unusual.

National Security Council secretary general Prateep Naetniyom said the Jakarta attack was unexpected as there usually were warnings from allies about possible impending attacks. “Asean has to improve their performance and cooperation. Thailand usually cooperates with Indonesia. However, Indonesia did not warn us about anything or any movement of IS in the region,” Prateep said.

The incident showed that IS has increased its cells and presence in some Asean countries, he said, adding that this is considered a threat to regional security and the terrorism situation is very worrying.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said yesterday Thailand should avoid being “dragged into” any conflict and urged the public not to panic after the Jakarta terror attacks. 

“Don’t drag us to get involved with the conflict, or our economy could be affected,” he said.

Prayut insisted that no terrorists had been found to have entered Thailand, as had been feared, adding that the government did not try to cover that up.

In Jakarta, police were hunting IS militants yesterday as security was tightened across the country. 

This is the first time the radical group has targeted the country with the world’s largest Muslim population, and the brazenness of the attack suggested a new brand of militancy in a country more used to low-level strikes on police.

Jaran Maluleem, an Islamic expert and lecturer at Thammasat University, said Asean countries had to boost their security.

“If the attacks [in Jakarta] were the work of the IS network, this means the network has already entered the Asean region,” he said.

Jaran suggested that although Thailand was not a target of the terrorists and was used as a base to attack other states, the Kingdom still had to be extremely vigilant. Previously there had information that IS had a presence in Pattaya.

He said given terrorism was considered a threat to the security of Asean countries, members nations had to cooperate and be on high alert to prevent the Middle East violence occurring in Southeast Asia.

Deputy government spokesman Weerachon Sukondhapatipak said the government had assigned security agencies such as police and military to oversee important places and tourism venues and check if there was any movement of terrorists. He said none had been found nor any connection to IS.

In Trang, in the south, the number of officials at the airport has been boosted, along with screening of passengers and luggage.