Terror-preemption talk roils Asia

Just how the antiterror center in Malaysia will work has yet to be determined. When Secretary of State Colin Powell proposed it in July, it was envisioned as a clearing house for intelligence gathered by Southeast Asian governments as they pursue regional groups with ties to Al Qaeda.

Though the center has been agreed upon, there have been signs of cooling Malaysian interest since members of the domestic Islamic opposition attacked the plan as an infringement on national sovereignty.

Analysts say such arrangements are fragile by nature, particularly in the world of intelligence gathering, where relationships and national sentiment play an important role. In Indonesia, for instance, US and Australian investigators had been getting an unprecedented level of access in recent months.

Indonesia allowed immediate access to Australian investigators after the Bali attack which killed mostly Australian tourists. It was a surprisingly high level of cooperation, since nationalist anger against Australia was stirred after that country led the 1999 peacekeeping effort in the former Indonesian province of East Timor. Just yesterday, Indonesian officials announced the arrest of an alleged top-level member of Jemaah Islamiyah, an Al Qaeda-linked group that has been blamed for the Bali bombing.

But diplomats say that Indonesia is now pulling back from allowing more foreign investigators on its soil. And its usually silent President Megawati Sukarnoputri has also taken to making veiled criticisms of the US, particularly over Iraq. "We see how the ambition to conquer other nations has made a situation where there's no peace unless the world complies with the will of the powerful one," she said in a speech at the National Mosque late last month.

Australia has long been America's closest friend in the Pacific. Australian soldiers fought and died alongside Americans in Vietnam, and today, the Australian government is one of the few American allies that has supported the case for war with Iraq.

As a consequence, Asian governments often see Australia as a voice for US interests in the region. Malaysia's government-owned New Straits Times attacked Howard's comments in an editorial on Tuesday titled "Uncle Sam's Foremost Flunky." The editorial alleged that his statement was part of an effort to create "an international legal environment that affords freedom and legitimacy of action for the US and its satellite states such as Australia in the prosecution of the war on terrorism."

Wednesday, Australia called in 10 Southeast Asian ambassadors to stress that there would be no Australian action without consulting the countries first.

Mr. Bush has stood by Australia during the furor. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said on Monday that the president "supports preemptive action. The president has said that is part of America's doctrine because of the different nature of terrorism."

The US is one of the region's largest donors, and its military commitments remain crucial to maintaining Asia's security balance. "The US is the dominant power on the globe, so governments are more willing to accept preemption when it's coming from the Americans,'' says Mr. Emmers.

Howard has been seen in Asia as too close to the US since 1999, when he said that he saw Australia as a sort of "deputy" to the American global sheriff.

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