More countries to patrol Malacca Strait

More countries to patrol Malacca Strait

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta

Four more countries have expressed interest in joining the
coordinated patrols launched recently by Indonesia, Malaysia and
Singapore to stamp out piracy in the Strait of Malacca.

Navy Chief of Staff Adm. Bernard Kent Sondakh said on Friday
cooperation arrangements with fellow Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries the Philippines, Thailand
and Brunei, as well as ASEAN Regional Forum partner India, would
be further discussed.

Bernard said he had met with Thailand's three top security
officials two days after Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore
officially launched Malsindo, a 24/7 year-round operation, on
July 22 in Batam, Riau.

"With the consent of the Indonesian Military (TNI) chief (Gen.
Endriartono Sutarto), I visited Thailand and met with that
country's minister of defense, military commander and navy chief
to discuss a possible cooperation in guarding the strait.

"The deal is almost done, and we are now considering
arrangements on what kinds of military equipment will be deployed
and which sea territory will be guarded by Thailand's navy,"
Bernard said on the sidelines of an unveiling for three new Navy
patrol boats

The boats, the KRI Boa 807, KRI Welang 808 and KRI
Taliwangsa 870, will be stationed at Tanjung Uban Port in Riau
and Belawan Port in Medan, North Sumatra.

The vessels, which cost Rp 12 billion (US$1.3 million) each,
will join seven other Navy vessels patrolling the Strait of
Malacca.

The ceremony on Friday took place just outside of Jakarta Bay,
with all of the Navy's top brass on board the KRI Tanjung Dalpele
warship.

Bernard said he planned to meet with officers from Brunei's
navy to assure them the coordinated patrols were not aimed at
establishing a defense pact.

"My colleagues in Brunei may be suspicious that the
coordinated patrols will become a new form of defense pact, and I
will explain the Malsindo project to them before they whether to
join us," Bernard said.

He had also arranged a meeting with top navy officials from
India and the Philippines, where he hopes to discuss the growing
problem of smuggling in the waters of the Philippines.

The coordinated patrols in one of the world's busiest
waterways followed a remark by Adm. Thomas Fargo, commander of
the Honolulu-based United States Pacific Command, who told the
U.S. Congress that partnership among countries in the Asia-
Pacific region would enhance maritime security.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the U.S. has also
expressed concern over the possibility of terrorists using the
Strait of Malacca to launch attacks, with the help of local
pirates.

If such an attack were to take place, the global economy would
likely suffer a major blow because the strait, linking the Indian
Ocean with the South China Sea, is among the most important
shipping lanes in the world.

According to data, more than 50,000 commercial ships carrying
more than one-third of the global trade and one-half of the
world's crude oil pass through the strait each year.

In 2003 alone, there were 28 pirate attacks in the strait,
most of them in Indonesian waters.

After almost three weeks of coordinated patrols, the navies of
Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore have arrested two groups of
pirates from the Philippines and South Korea.

Bernard, however, complained about communication problems
facing soldiers in the field due to the poor quality of their
equipment.