The use of US forces in Southeast Asia to fight terrorism would fuel Islamic fanaticism in the region and potentially generate great social and political instability, said Deputy Prime Minister

Najib Abdul Razak.

He told the Asia Security Conference in Singapore yesterday that Southeast Asia should expand anti-terrorism efforts with the United States in areas such as intelligence sharing and choking terrorists' financial and logistical networks.

"However, what we should avoid is the presence of foreign forces in Southeast Asia to help us deal with this threat, not because we distrust those outside the region, but because foreign military presence will set us back in our idealogical battle against extremism and militancy," he said.

"The lessons of Iraq should be clear to us: ill prepared liberators do make mistakes and the failure of good intentions can cause great damage to social and political stability."

Najib, who is also defence minister, made his comments two days after US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said during a visit to Singapore that he hoped to have US troops fighting terrorism in Southeast Asia "pretty soon".

US presence in Strait of Malacca?

His comments fuelled speculation that the United States wants to deploy US forces in the Strait of Malacca, the narrow and busy shipping lane straddled by Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore that is seen as a likely terrorist target.

The commander of US forces in the Pacific, Admiral Thomas Fargo, initially suggested in April one option being considered was putting marines and special operations forces aboard high speed vessels in the strait.

However senior US officials, including Rumsfeld and Admiral Walter Doran of the US Pacific Command, have said in Singapore over the past three days that Fargo had been misunderstood and there were no plans for bases or standing forces to patrol the strait.

"The primary event is to just raise the situational awareness of what is happening in the waters around us," Doran told reporters on Friday.

Najib also told reporters after his speech that he believed the United States did not intend to bring a military presence into the strait, and that he would meet Fargo in Malaysia this month to discuss US plans for regional maritime security.

He said Malaysia would support a plan in which it, Singapore and Indonesia shared military and other intelligence with the United States and others about the Strait of Malacca.

Malaysia would even hold joint anti-piracy and anti-terrorism exercises with its neighbours and other countries.

"But the actual interdiction would be done by the littoral states," he said.

"In the Malaysian context, we do not believe that it's useful or helpful in our fight against terrorism or terrorists if foreign troops are being seen or perceived as being involved in that."

Singapore's Co-ordinating Minister for Defence, Tony Tan, also told the conference that multilateral co-operation must protect every nation's sovereignty and territorial integrity. - AFP