Navies ponder agreement on strait cross-border patrols
Navies ponder agreement on strait cross-border patrols
Fadli, The Jakarta Post, Batam
Navy officers from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand
met for a two-day meeting on Thursday in Batam to discuss ways to
boost security in the crucial Malacca Strait.
Western Fleet Commander of the Indonesian Navy Rear Adm. Tedjo
Edhi said that the main issue discussed during the meeting was
the mechanism to allow patrol boats from one country to pass
through another country's sea territory when chasing pirates in
the channel.
"For instance, if a pirate attack occurs in Indonesian waters,
then the Indonesian Navy will chase the perpetrators even if
they've already entered Singapore's territory. Those were the
kinds of issues we discussed here," he told The Jakarta Post on
the sidelines of the meeting.
The meeting was a follow-up of an Aug. 2 meeting in Kuala
Lumpur of navy officers from the three littoral states
responsible for guarding the Malacca Strait, Indonesia, Malaysia
and Singapore. During that meeting, it was agreed to let Thailand
participate in guarding the strait.
The Batam meeting was the first time Thailand had joined talks
on boosting security in the strait.
The Strait of Malacca, linking the Indian Ocean with the South
China Sea, is a narrow 600-kilometer stretch of water used by
more than 50,000 commercial ships each year, and carries more
than one-third of global shipping trade and one-half of the
world's crude oil shipments. All of Japan's crude oil needs are
transported through the strait. South Korea and China also rely
extensively on crude supplies shipped through it.
But the strait has been plagued by rampant pirate attacks for
the past several years.
Thailand's navy representative Capt. Jiamsak Chantarasena said
that due to the limited budget of his government amid rising oil
prices, Thailand may not be able to contribute in a significant
way to securing the strait.
He said that the size of Thailand's contribution in securing
the strait including how many navy personnel and how many patrol
boats would be dedicated would be decided by his government.