United States experts today began training officials from five Southeast Asian nations to fight terrorist financing in one of a series of programmes at the Southeast Asia Regional Centre for Counter Terrorism.

Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told some 100 officials from the United States, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand that the terrorist threat was growing stronger every day and no nation could stand against it alone.

US experts from the justice department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, customs and border patrol will brief their Asian counterparts during the four-day workshop on their operating procedures and establish working relationships to share intelligence.

Syed Hamid said terrorists were dependent on finance to fuel their activities while the global community lacked a blueprint to fight money laundering and suspicious transactions.

"Countries must be equipped with the right skills to cripple any terrorist activity at its nascent stage," he said.

"International terrorism will remain a common threat confronting us unless we adopt a comprehensive approach to confront the scourge. No one country can fight this evil alone. We have to collaborate closely."

Low-key approach

Southeast Asia is home to the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terror network accused of deadly bomb attacks in Indonesia and the Philippines.

Other groups in the region that have been branded terrorists by the United States and local governments, including the Abu Sayyaf Muslim kidnap-for-ransom group in the southern Philippines.

US President George W Bush proposed the establishment of the anti-terror centre in 2002 after thanking the then-prime minister Mahathir Mohamad for Malaysia's cooperation against terrorism.

But bilateral ties were later strained by Mahathir's strong criticism of the US-led war on Iraq, and the US was dropped as a full partner in the establishment of the centre in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.

Syed Hamid said at the launch of the centre last year, however, that Washington was still expected to provide input and "we welcome collaboration with the US".

Mahathir has since retired and his successor, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, has adopted a more low-key approach to relations with the US.

Malaysia is already holding some 80 terror suspects, many of whom are allegedly members of JI, under its Internal Security Act, which allows for detention without trial. - AFP