DEFENCE WHITE PAPER illustrate the efforts of regional countries in pursuing the main objective of regional peace, security and stability. All these collaborations as well as other defence cooperation mechanisms will be elaborated in Chapter 6: International Defence Engagement. 25. The Government is committed to pursue a multi-pronged approach to effectively defend the nation’s security and interests in the Southeast Asian region. This does not only consist of ASEAN and ASEAN-led mechanisms, but also other approaches that have proven to be effective in managing regional issues. They include: bilateral diplomacy, international law and a web of partnerships involving countries within and beyond Southeast Asia. An example of such partnerships is the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA), which consists of Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom that will be discussed in Chapter 6. 26. ASEAN will continue to be the cornerstone of Malaysia’s foreign policy. It is an indispensable platform for Malaysia and member states to tackle shared, region-wide issues including promoting intra-ASEAN confidence-building measures, forging cooperation with big powers, facilitating Asian trade and investment as well as tackling economic challenges, environmental problems, contagious diseases and other non-traditional security issues. The Non-Traditional Security Threats 27. Non-Traditional Security (NTS) issues involve non-state actors and trans-border crime with an asymmetric character, which have direct as well as indirect impacts to social, political, economic and environmental sectors. Terrorism is among the main NTS threats to this country, this region and the wider world. Apart from terrorism, threats such as extremism, hijacking and cyber attack might disrupt internal stability, cause loss of life as well as paralyse Critical National Information Infrastructures (CNII). Other threats such as sea robbery, kidnapping and illegal fishing might disrupt Sea Lines of Communication (SLOC) and affect the safety of navigation, thus resulting in losses to the nation. 28. Among the factors attributed to these threats are the porous land border between states, globalisation, communication and transportation facilities and other emerging trends in various parts of the world. These trends include self-radicalisation through social media, rapid diffusion of Internet of Things (IoT), extreme ideologies, identity politics and so forth. 29. The enduring NTS threats that continuously affect Malaysia’s interests are terrorism and extremism, cyber threats, maritime security threats, proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives (CBRNe) threats and natural disasters. 30. Terrorism and Extremism. The threats of terrorism and extremism to Malaysia’s security are growing. From February 2013 to September 2019, the authorities arrested 511 individuals with suspected links to terrorism. Out of this, 336 were locals whilst 175 were foreigners. All of them were linked to Abu Sayyaf groups and were suspected of plotting attacks targeting places of worship, as well as channelling funds to Malaysian Daesh members in Syria and the Jemaah Anshorut Daulah (JAD) group in Indonesia. This reflects the transboundary nature of the threat. 31. The magnitude and forms of terrorist threats to Malaysia are tied to developments in neighbouring countries as well as West Asia and other regions. Returning fighters have come to Southeast Asia to exploit opportunities to forge ties with local terrorist networks. Hundreds of Southeast Asian militants, including those from Malaysia, who fought in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan have returned to this region, raising the Government’s concern. 24