A seminar at the Faculty of Law, Thammasat University on March 10 showed that informal international cooperation can help governmental agencies function better. As students and ajarns of the TU Faculty of Law know, the German-Southeast Asian Center of Excellence for Public Policy and Good Governance (CPG) organizes a series of outstanding conferences and seminars throughout the year. Based at TU, its work is shared among Thammasat and three universities in Germany: Goethe-University Frankfurt, University of Münster, and University of Passau. The CPG is funded by Germany’s Federal Foreign Office and supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). Investigating how public law facilitates good governance, it takes an interdisciplinary approach, so students and ajarns from different faculties may be interested to attend its events. In the spirit of international exchange of ideas between Europe and Southeast Asia, its focus is especially on the ASEAN community. The CPG’s director is Dr. Henning Glaser, editor-in-chief of the European – Asian Journal for Law and Governance (EAJLG) and coeditor of three books, Constitutionalism and Good Governance – Eastern and Western Perspectives (2014); Norms, Interests, and Values – Conflict and Consent in the Constitutional Basic Order (2015); and Constitutional Jurisprudence – Function, Impact, and Challenges (2016). As these books suggest, the CPG concentrates on comparative constitutional law; international human rights protection; national and regional security law and policy; and ASEAN regional integration. It is active in teaching, research, publications, consultancy, and professional training. Ajarn Henning’s lectures are always interesting to hear because they are clearly expressed and also sometimes contain philosophical content, showing he has thought deeply about the matters he is discussing. On March 10 the subject was Transnational Crime and Police Cooperation in Europe. The occasion for this lecture was a visit to TU by a delegation from the International Relations Division of the National Central Bureau (NCB) – Interpol Indonesia.
International cooperation.
Ajarn Henning explained to these security professionals and other listeners that international cooperation can be most helpful, especially in technological innovations. He cited the example of a German lecturer at CPG who explained that it was now possible to identify a fingerprint from a photograph of a criminal suspect’s finger, even an image where only part of a thumb was visible. By sharing knowledge between Europe and the ASEAN region, law enforcement becomes more up-to-date and efficient. Ajarn Henning specificed that for this sharing to happen, informal contacts were as useful, and sometimes even more so, than formal exchanges:
Not many professional groups find it so easy to talk to each other as the police. When a German officer is [visiting the Kingdom] he finds great willingnmess to communicate and cooperate informally.
These informal discussions complement more official legal frameworks for cooperation, policing, and treaties for military and United Nations security forces who may take on policing functions around the world. They are very productive, which explains the
huge wave of increasing police cooperation, much more than 50 years ago,
on an international scale. This happens even though different nations have different laws, guidelines, and customs. In Germany, the police must investigate potential crimes, while in other countries, they have more discretion about what to choose to investigate.
Room for improvement
Despite the increase in international cooperation, there is still room for improvement. Each country has a different degree of international cooperation. Sometimes rivalries between institutions can prevent cooperation. In Europe, some countries are easier to cooperate with than others. Examples of countries with very individual systems of law which makes them more challenging to cooperate with include the Netherlands, Poland, and the Czech Republic. One area that provided a major source of international cooperation in Europe was in security surrounding football matches. To tackle the issue of supporters who travelled across European countries to cause violence in stadiums, police forces were inspired to cooperate fully on an international level, to better coordinate mass events. International cooperation is also especially value to regulate the mass arrival of refugees to countries in Europe. There are many instances of institutionalized cooperation in serious crime cases, starting with The European Police Office (Europol), the European Union’s law enforcement agency. Among Europol’s new units are those working on internet crimes and counter-terrorism. Europol has the right to initiate investigations, observe, gather information, and protect. Eurojust is an agency of the European Union dealing with judicial co-operation in criminal matters. The EU Intelligence and Situation Centre (EU INTCEN) is an intelligence body of the European Union (EU). The European Police College (CEPOL) is the European Union agency for law enforcement training, located in Budapest, Hungary. Europol is active in protecting European borders, creating a joint database for fingerprints and automobile data to prosecute inter-border crime. When such organizations share their knowledge and experiences in ASEAN nations, some vary in their cooperation in security and intelligence matters.
Challenges in cooperation
When a large and powerful nation such as the United States or Australia offers technical expertise, this can be a major benefit, for example when Australia shares its terrorist database with security forces of ASEAN countries. Yet if the partners are very powerful, they can sometimes disturb local systems. The war on terrorism has been conducted like a war for 50 years, but the question remains open whether this is the best way to prevent terrorism. In Indonesia, security forces have personal knowledge of terrorists, while in other countries, police forces have great difficulties infiltrating terrorist organizations and getting to know them. In Malaysia, security forces try to treat suspects kindly, giving them the opportunity to be arrested where their families cannot see them being taken away, and not using handcuffs. In Germany, potential terrorists who return from fighting in Syria are treated harshly. A global approach cannot always be applied on the local level. Cooperation over terrorism is difficult because it affects national security. Sometimes, terrorism is not just a crime but also a sign of the neglect of the social contract that addresses the questions of the origin of society and the legitimacy of the authority of the state over the individual. Terrorism can be an expression of the fact that the social contract has failed. This is a sensitive matter, because in some countries terrorism is dangerous to different kinds of people in different ways. In certain places, for example, only foreigners are targeted, leading to different levels of risk. In other cases, local police may prefer to observe and limit terrorists, rather than arrest them all immediately, as foreign police would prefer. Globalization is feared because it imposes a world view on local populations. Concepts of the good life and truth are imposed globally according to one model and this may be a contradiction of what local people believe. This is why globalization can be a threat. Multinational corporations benefit most from globalization, but not all populations do.
Approaching counterterrorism
In counterterrorism, Ajarn Henning suggested, the most important aspect is consistency of approach. In Afghanistan, there are two different kinds of enforcement, from soldiers, who are encouraged to interact politely with the local populations and respect them, and special operations forces who operate harshly. That is not consistent, and honesty, consistency, and sincerity can win friends for security forces. In Malaysia, when officers speak to suspects, they are consistent, tough, but try to treat them respectfully, and that pays off. A lot of fighting terrorism can create more terrorism. Globally, more terrorists are created than the ones being taken out. Officers from Western countries tend to be only interested in the numbers of arrests and numbers of people giving information. Yet in Indonesia, for example, the police must live with the terrorists, and if they are treated incorrectly, Indonesians will pay the price, not officers visiting from abroad. That is why it is so important to cooperate informally before we have formal transactions.
(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)