Joint operation to guard Malacca Strait

Joint operation to guard Malacca Strait

JAKARTA: Four Southeast Asian countries, including Malaysia,
Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia, are currently finalizing
standard operating procedures (SOPs) for a joint operation to
guard the crucial Malacca Strait.

Indonesian Navy spokesman Commodore Abdul Malik Yusuf said on
Saturday that once the SOPs had been finalized, the four
countries would formally launch the joint operation to provide
security in the Strait.

The narrow, 805-kilometer waterway carries a quarter of global
trade and nearly all oil imports for Japan and China. But piracy
and robbery have been rampant in the waterway despite
coordinated patrols by the three littoral states: Indonesia,
Malaysia and Singapore.

Abdul said that in August 2005, the chiefs of the armed forces
of the littoral states met with their Thai counterpart to discuss
ways that the latter country could participate in securing the
Strait after Malaysia and Indonesia said they opposed calls from
the U.S. and Japan for international involvement in securing the
waterways due to sovereignty concerns. -- Antara