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Bali, Indonesia, June 8: Over 75 representatives from the U.S. government and ASEAN dialogue and development partners joined ASEAN key stakeholders to take stock of progress and reaffirm shared priorities on preventing and countering violent extremism in the final two years of ASEAN’s Bali Work Plan. A Multisectoral Task Force Meeting brought together 15 ASEAN sectoral bodies and entities responsible for contributing to and “owning” sections of the Bali Work Plan to provide updates and discuss the challenges faced during implementation. The ASEAN-USAID PROSPECT project is supporting the Senior Officials on Transnational Crime Working Group on Counterterrorism to prepare a status report on the progress made to ensure timely and effective implementation of the activities.
During the Partners Meeting held in the afternoon, ASEAN Dialogue and Development partners from Australia, Canada, Japan, the European Union, Republic of Korea, United Kingdom, and the United States had the opportunity to present their support to efforts implemented under the Bali Work Plan.
Prior to today’s events, Indonesia’s BNPT and the U.S Government—USAID and the State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism—joined forces to co-host the third ASEAN-U.S. Regional Workshop on PCVE: Community Resilience in ASEAN. The two-day event served to promote a better understanding of the current priorities, threats, and good practices related to PCVE, building upon outcomes of the 2022 ASEAN-U.S. Workshop on PCVE.
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In his welcome remarks, Mr. Andhika Chrisnayudhanto, Deputy for International Cooperation of Indonesia’s National Counter Terrorism Agency (BNPT) and Chair of SOMTC WG-CT, thanked the U.S. government for its continued support to the implementation of the Bali Work Plan and for co-hosting the 3rd ASEAN Partners Meeting on the Implementation of the Bali Work Plan (2019 – 2025). He emphasized the importance of continued investments in preventative actions to counter terrorism in ASEAN, noting that terrorists remain a threat seeking ways to cause instability through new technologies and innovations, including social media.
During his opening remarks, Mr. John Edgar, Director of USAID/RDMA ASEAN Office, reinforced the importance of working together: “Only by working together collaboratively, can we—the ASEAN Dialogue and Development Partners, ASEAN bodies, and civil society actors across the region—contribute to countering the spread of radicalization and violent extremism.” He implored participants to maintain a commitment to human rights for all citizens when considering efforts to counter violent extremism: “As leaders in the region, we must maintain the delicate balance between countering radicalism and violent extremism and ensuring our citizens’ rights and opinions are protected under the law and through our policies and practices. This is not always an easy balance to maintain, particularly in an era of ‘fake news’ and ‘disinformation.’ Only through deliberate efforts to listen and seek to understand and embrace our political, religious, and ethnic diversities, can we find success.”
