Malaysia, Indonesia and RP discuss piracy

Malaysia, Indonesia and RP discuss piracy

Eileen Ng, Associated Press/Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia is in talks with Indonesia and the Philippines to allow
their naval forces to pursue pirates in each other's waters in
what could be a bold new effort to eliminate the scourge, a
senior security official said on Thursday.

Separately, an anti-piracy watchdog rejected a proposal to use
private armed guards to escort commercial vehicles in the Malacca
Strait, the world's busiest and most pirate-infested waterway,
saying it could be counterproductive.

Abdul Hadi Rashid, director of the Maritime Enforcement
Coordinating Center, said Malaysia has a mechanism in place with
Indonesia and the Philippines on coastal surveillance and
security, but there was no agreement to allow the pursuit of
pirates in each other's territorial waters.

"This is still at a discussion level," he told a symposium on
regional cruising here, while addressing concerns about maritime
safety. He did not elaborate.

Allowing naval and marine police of the countries into their
waters would be an unprecedented step for the three Southeast
Asian countries who zealously guard their territorial integrity.
A Sulawesi Sea territorial dispute between Malaysia and Indonesia
led to souring of relations between them recently.

Abdul Hadi said Malaysia has put up radar systems along the
Malacca Strait and would establish a new coast guard enforcement
agency soon to step up security in the shipping lane, which
carries half the world's oil and a third of its commerce.

Addressing the same conference, Pottengal Mukundan, director
of the International Maritime Bureau's (IMB) piracy center, urged
coastal states to consider placing a liaison officer on each
other's navy vessels so that they could obtain immediate approval
to chase pirates crossing into another country's waters.

"Pirates operate often along territorial borders because they
know there is no right of pursue across territorial waters. We
want to see some mechanism within the region to improve bilateral
cooperation," he said.

Mukundan warned however, the use of mercenaries and private
guards to safeguard merchant vessels could create new risks, such
as the use of force in the name of self-defense, emergency
medical assistance and the vetting of the armed guards.

"There are a lot of questions which have to be properly
answered and I think the coastal states are quite rightly
concerned," he told reporters later.

"Vulnerable ships, in particular, crossing the Strait should
be escorted by law enforcement agencies, not private entities."

Mukundan singled out Indonesia as the weak link in the region
due to its lack of resources.

Last year, the London-based IMB recorded 37 pirate attacks in
the narrow, 800-kilometer shipping lane despite coordinated
patrols by Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.