Brunei Upholds Full Commitment Against Transnational Crime
By James Kon

Bandar Seri Begawan - Brunei Darussalam reiterated its full commitment and determination towards the fight against transnational crime by working closely together with other Asean member countries as well as the international community.

And with the consent of His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam;- Brunei will introduce anew law called Mutual Legal Assistance Order on P` January 2006 as an effective mechanism to assist other countries in the investigation and prosecution of transnational crimes.

This was disclosed by YB Pehin Dato Paduka Awg Hj Adanan, the Minister of Home Affairs in a press conference yesterday morning at the Ministry.

According to Pehin Hj Adanan, who attended the 5th Asean Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime and the 2nd Asean Ministerial Meeting +3 (China, Japan and the Republic of Korea) on Transnational Crime from 28th November to 11th December 2005 in Hanoi, Vietnam, Brunei Darussalam together with other Asean member countries have agreed to give a high level of cooperation in working together in the fight against four types of transnational crime - terrorism, illicit drug trafficking, trafficking of people - and money laundering - which are already in the working plan towards the Asean action plan for the fight against transnational crimes.

The Minister further added that at the same time, Asean member countries also vowed to continue cooperation with other countries to battle against crimes like arms smuggling, sea piracy, international economic crimes and cyber crimes.

The Minister revealed that during the 5th Asean Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime, Ministers of Asean member countries stressed the need to increase coordination and cooperation between enforcement agencies to cope with transnational crimes and the need to have a detailed action plan on the battle against terrorism.

They (the Ministers) have also agreed on the importance of raising the public's understanding and awareness in helping the fight against terrorism and to have an effective and efficient mechanism of exchanging intelligence and information, the Minister said.

At the meeting, Brunei Darussalam also stressed the importance of Asean member countries to continue raising their efforts to establish the Asean action plan to stamp out transnational crimes as well as to continue tackling the sources of terrorism, namely injustice and poverty.

Meanwhile during the 2nd Asean Ministerial Meeting +3 on Transnational Crime, the Ministers from the participating countries stressed the importance of strengthening cooperation between Asean and its dialogue partners through the Legal Framework.

The meeting also highlighted the need to cut off any financial sources for terrorist activities, to confiscate the possessions of terrorists.

The need for various enforcement agencies for raising capacity building and training was also mentioned.

Before ending the press conference, Pehin Hj Adanan also announced that Brunei Darussalam will be hosting the 6th Asean Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime and the 3rd Asean Ministerial Meeting +3 (China, Japan and the Republic of Korea) on Transnational Crime in the year 2007.  -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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