Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines to appoint POC for intelligence info exhanges

TENOM: Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines have agreed that each country appoints a "point of contact" (POC) from among their military and police personnel to facilitate the exchange of intelligence information on security threats, including from Daesh militants.
Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said the decision was made by the three countries at the Indomalphi Trilateral Intelex meeting on security recently in Manila.
Malaysia was represented by the Malaysian Armed Forces Defence Intelligence director-general and the police Special Branch director.
He said during the meeting, the three countries also agreed that discussions and meetings among the representative of each country be carried out every three months on a rotational basis and Malaysia was appointed as organiser for the second meeting expected to take place in October 2017.
"Indeed, this initiative is very important and historic for Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines as it is the first collaboration involving all three countries that combine military and police elements to discuss and share intelligence information," he said in a statement here.
Earlier Hishammuddin, who is also Umno vice president, opened the Wanita, Pemuda and Puteri Umno Zone 4 delegates conference here today.
He described the approach as timely and able to bring a positive impact on efforts to address the threat of violence in the Southeast Asian region. — Bernama