SINGAPORE : Malaysian Defence Minister Najib Tun Razak has
called upon the international community to play a larger role in
the protection of the Malacca Strait, one of the busiest sea lanes
in the world.
Speaking to top defence officials at the Shangri-la Dialogue in
Singapore, he said coordinated patrols by Singapore, Malaysia and
Indonesia have given positive results, but admits there are
limitations.
When coordinated patrols along the Malacca Strait started in July
2004, incidents of pirate attacks went down by 25 percent.
The success of the patrols even prompted an invitation to the Royal
Thai Navy to join in the patrolling effort.
Their role is to enhance security along the approaches to the
Straits.
Mr Najib says safeguarding the Malacca Strait is the primary
responsibility of the littoral states but he also recognises the
limitations of bearing that responsibility alone, because securing
the busy sea lane would require enormous resources to make it
unattractive to pirates and terrorists.
He said international stakeholders are important and cooperation
could be in the form of enhancing the capabilities of front line
agencies.
An idea he proposed was the use of "eyes in the sky".
Mr Najib said, "The assets could be flown by the international
community but the consoles could be operated by the littoral
states. In operational terms, it's necessary because if you have
eyes in the sky if you can pick out small targets, and it could be
transmitted through voice and data link and we could have our
assets intercept these targets immediately."
But Mr Najib made clear such international cooperation must not
impinge on the territorial integrity and national sovereignty of
the littoral states.
He also dismissed the idea that foreign ships be escorted by their
own naval vessels.
Mr Najib said, "If it is constituted as our territorial waters, the
answer is that we wouldn't want foreign ships to be protecting
their own ships; we should be protecting you."
He added that Malaysia also favours a "joint movement" along the
Malacca Strait.
But before engaging the wider international community, Mr Najib
says Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia must first develop a common
position on how the Straits of Malacca must be secured. - CNA
/ct