Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to thank the organisers for the opportunity to address this distinguished forum.

Religious and cultural diversity has been the hallmark of Southeast Asia for centuries. Having all major religions of the world represented in the region, Southeast Asia 's religious diversity is second to none and it enjoys a remarkable degree of inter-religious harmony. However, in the face of today's religious-imbued international terrorism, there have been concerns that this centuries-old harmony is threatened by the rising religious extremism and that the region is becoming a “hotbed” of terrorism.

Let me assure you that the actual picture is far rosier than the one portrayed by a few analysts, for religious extremism remains peripheral to our political and social life. But before I explain what we have been doing in maintaining the harmony, I would like to first share with you a few updates on ASEAN's efforts to counter terrorism, since it has been two years since my last participation in this forum in September 2005

First, of course, was the signing of the ASEAN Convention on Counter Terrorism (ACCT) by our leaders during their 12 th Summit in Cebu City on 13 January 2007. As one of the last regional conventions on counter terrorism, the legally-binding ACCT contains a few provisions that add value to the existing universal anti-terrorism instruments. These include provision on rehabilitative programme for terrorist convicts and their reintegration to the society as a way to prevent them from redoing their acts. Moreover, the ACCT complies with the main principles of the recently adopted UN Global Strategy on Counter Terrorism, including its human rights requirements. Efforts are now being undertaken to expedite its ratification by ASEAN countries, and establishing mechanisms to monitor its implementation when it enters into force.

We have also established the Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters, a regional legal instrument that facilitates apprehension, investigation and prosecution, exchange of witnesses, sharing of evidence, enquiry, seizure and forfeiture of proceeds of the crime. While ratifying processes are being worked out by five ASEAN countries that have not done so, efforts to familiarise ASEAN officials involved in combating terrorism with the Treaty's provisions are simultaneously undertaken. This is aimed to ensure that the officials can utilise the Treaty when it enters into force following its ratification by all ASEAN countries. The Treaty will be open for accession by non-ASEAN countries after it enters into force.

We are also working on the establishment of an ASEAN Extradition Treaty, which will better facilitate regional cooperation to counter terrorism. These legal instruments are developed to ensure that differences in the legal systems and judicial procedures amongst ASEAN countries do not impede collective efforts to prevent and suppress terrorist acts and bring their perpetrators to justice.

More importantly, some of regional mechanisms on counter terrorism have been transformed from mere talk shops into activity-oriented fora that bring concrete and greater benefits for our front-line officials dealing with terrorism on the ground. Two years ago, there were only two regional projects on counter terrorism. This year, we have more than a dozen cooperation projects dealing with various aspects of counter terrorism. They range from one-off workshops aimed to equip our law enforcement officials with better technical capability to handle terrorism, improving mechanism for intelligence and information sharing, to systematic and long-term programme to enhance regional infrastructure for collective response to terrorism. The latter includes a proposed development of a region-wide border control system to prevent terrorist movements and a framework for regional response to cyber crime.

But besides those “hard” measures to enhance our physical capability to deal with terrorism, we are also systematically implementing “soft” preventive efforts to address its root causes. Two complementary projects are being proposed to deal with this issue, i.e. a systematic research on the underlying factors that drive people to terrorism and region-wide study on public response to terrorism.

The first research would seek to identify those factors and recommend some remedial measures in rehabilitating and reintegrating terrorist detainees – as called for by the above-mentioned provision of the ACCT. The second study would gauge public response to terrorism so as to identify strategies to enhance their engagement with counter terrorism. For a region that is home to nearly a quarter billion Muslims, a comprehensive understanding of underlying factors that drive terrorism and how to address them is important in the light of what is perceived today as tensions between the West and the Rest – in particular, Islam.

This brings me back to my earlier point that religious extremism is peripheral to our political and social life. As one of our leading intellectuals, Dr Chandra Muzaffar of Malaysia has observed, although acts of religious extremism are not alien to modern Southeast Asia , their primary causes are not religious doctrines. Rather, they can be traced to historical, political or economic factors.

Moreover, Southeast Asia 's long history of religious and cultural harmony has created an atmosphere of accommodation and inclusiveness, which made it difficult for religious extremism to dominate. Islam which spread to the region through trade and Sufism brought values such as universalism, moderation and reciprocity, while Buddhism's emphasis on compassion and kindness have made acceptance of the other easier. Likewise, mainstream elites of other faiths, Hindu and Christianity, have seldom adopted antagonistic attitude towards religious other.

It is also worth noting that one of the worst carnages in modern Southeast Asia, i.e. the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia that eliminated 1.4. million people, was perpetrated by individuals and groups who were divorced from religion.

That said, we do not take this centuries-long harmony for granted. The fact that sectarian conflicts and acts of terror in the name of religion did break out in some parts of the region, serves as a constant reminder of the need to strengthen the forces of moderation and to keep religious extremism at bay.

In this regard, I am pleased to inform you that we have been undertaking such efforts both at the national and regional levels. At the regional level, as I mentioned earlier, a comprehensive approach to counter terrorism, which includes addressing the root causes of terrorism was adopted and is being implemented. At the national levels, both the governments and members of the civil society in most ASEAN countries are working hand in hand to counter the extremists' manipulation of religion to justify their acts of terror.

These are aimed to ensure that Southeast Asia , home to all major world religions, will never become a hotbed of terrorism.

Thank you and I wish this year's Summit a great success.