New Zealand's region, the southernmost part of the Asia-Pacific, is an area of the world that, until the Bali bombings in October this year, commanded probably very little attention in the international media. Rightly so perhaps, after all, the very name "PACIFIC" means peace or peaceful. In the view of travel agents, nothing much happens here except holidays in exotic places. We who live here, or I suspect most of us, have come to believe this myth as well; or did so until shaken out of our self-inspired complacency a few weeks ago. Bali is only 4 hours from Australia, and 6 hours from New Zealand by very frequent aircraft.
This myth of a region of peace and tranquillity peace was never so of course; and is less so now. The region has suffered and continues to suffer from the contemporary criminal menaces of international terrorism, international organised crime, and international piracy. It is pertinent here to stress that terrorism in all it's ghastly manifestations is a crime; in most nations of the world terrorism is a criminal offence, along with people smuggling, drug trafficking, money laundering, piracy on land, sea and air; the jurisdiction in New Zealand is no different from other "developed" states in this regard.
I believe that starting with a brief Asia-Pacific regional security overview will help in understanding the observations I make later in the paper about organised crime; piracy; terrorism; and possible connections between them. I conclude with some comments about the possible future of the region in relation to these topics.