PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines have agreed to build a trilateral cooperation to curb Islamic State (IS) activities and ideology in the region.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said this collaboration was agreed upon by three leaders – Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Indonesian president Joko Widodo and the Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte.
“We will work together to hunt down terrorists and stop the IS ideology in the region.
“In terms of enforcement operations, we will no longer work individually but will collaborate for this purpose.
“This proactive measure was first agreed by Duterte and Joko. Malaysia later joined forces with the two countries after Duterte met with Najib during his official visit to Malaysia, last year,” he said after receiving farewell call from Indonesian ambassador to Malaysia Herman Prayitno, whose term will end on Jan 31.
Herman has served as the Indonesian ambassador to Malaysia for four years.
He will be replaced by Indonesian entrepreneur Rusdi Kirana, who is also one of the members of the Advisory Council to President.
Zahid, who is also home minister, said Malaysia will further strengthen relationship with Indonesia in various fields.