Asian cooperation on terrorism inadequate

Addressing diplomats from the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) at a public lecture, Megawati said no nation or group of countries could ever overcome the threat of international terrorism alone.

The bomb attack on the JW Marriott Hotel killed 10 people and wounded 150. Police have not named any suspects, but suspicion has fallen on Jemaah Islamiah, a Southeast Asian militant group blamed for last year's Bali bomb attacks and linked to al Qaeda.

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"Regional plans of action to tackle such problems had long been established as part and parcel of ASEAN's functional cooperation, but suddenly these appeared to be inadequate in the face of the cataclysms like terror attacks in the United States, Bali and a few days ago in the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta," Megawati said.

In keeping with her passive style, and as she did after the Bali bombings, Megawati has kept to the sidelines following the latest attack in the world's most populous Muslim nation and has left senior security officials to do the talking.

In her speech, she made no mention of the conviction and death sentence imposed on Thursday on the first of 38 Muslim militants on trial over Bali, which killed 202 people, mainly foreigners.

However, just days before the Marriott blast, she denounced what she called the "blind fanaticism" of the Bali bombers in some of her strongest comments yet on Islamic extremism.

"In Indonesia's view, which is shared by the rest of ASEAN members, it will take a global coalition involving all nations, all societies, religions and cultures to defeat this threat," Megawati said in her Friday address, speaking in English.