PUTRAJAYA - MALAYSIA will be the base for an Interpol-type agency to facilitate wider cooperation between security and enforcement agencies in Asean member countries.

Malaysian Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said the Cabinet had given the green light for the Aseanapol permanent secretariat to be set up here to help in efforts to curb crime, especially the trafficking of drugs and humans.

He said although there was already cooperation between the agencies, it was limited to bilateral treaties between countries, adding that the idea to set up Aseanapol was mooted during the Asean chiefs of police meeting in May last year, and Malaysia was proposed as the most suitable base.

'Aseanapol will, for a start, see cooperation between the police from the various countries, but I hope to eventually see cooperation in other areas including immigration, prisons and national registration,' he told a press conference after chairing the ministry's weekly post-Cabinet meeting here on Wednesday.

He said Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan, who attended the Asean-level meeting in Brunei last year, would oversee the setting up of the permanent secretariat here and later announce its exact role and scope of work.

On another matter, Mr Hishammuddin said he would be chairing a committee that would bring together legal experts from various departments under the ministry in an effort to look at outdated laws, including those related to the Internal Security Act .

'The review of the ISA involves looking at possible amendments to many Acts that I myself see as being no longer suitable,' he said. - THE STAR/ANN