Police strengthen anti-terror cooperation with Singapore
Police strengthen anti-terror cooperation with Singapore
Agencies, Jakarta
Indonesia and Singapore agreed on Friday to strengthen
cooperation in fighting rampant attacks by pirates on ships and
tankers in the Malacca Straits, the world busiest shipping lane
which separates the two neighbors.
"A rise in the number of piracy attacks in the Straits of
Malacca as well as the seas around Indonesia is a concern to all
of us because so much of the world's trade passes through this
sea line of communications," Tan said as quoted by AFP after
meeting Megawati.
The Malacca Strait, a narrow waterway straddling Malaysia,
Indonesia and Singapore, is notorious for piracy. Experts warned
recently that terrorists could be roaming the waterway to hijack
ships.
The strait, which links the Indian Ocean to the South China
Sea and the Pacific, is crucial to export-driven Southeast Asia.
Tan highlighted that attacks by pirates were not only becoming
more frequent, but they were also using more lethal equipment
like machine guns.
He also said that Indonesia, Singapore and other members of
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) would also
work together to combat piracy through a multilateral program
initiated by Japan.
Japan, which imports most of its crude oil via the pirate-
infested strait, pledged on Dec. 10 to help Indonesia fight sea
piracy, saying keeping sea lanes free of piracy was vital for
regional development.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told Megawati during a
meeting in Tokyo last week that increased international policing
was needed to wipe out the scourge.
Meanwhile, Indonesian Navy chief Adm. Bernard Sondakh, said
the navy would boost patrols in the Malacca Straits to fight
pirates.
"We will increase our number of commandos at Batam navy base.
We will boost our patrols to fight the pirates. We are also
cooperating together on a multilateral basis," he said.
Later in the day the Indonesian Police and Singaporean Police
agreed to boost cooperation in fighting terrorism that could
potentially spread across the borders between the two countries.
National Police deputy spokesman Brig. Gen. Soenarko said
after the meeting between Tan and Indonesian Police Chief Gen.
Da'i Bachtiar the two countries would tighten security along the
borders in a bid to prevent any act of terrorism.
Soenarko said both national police forces would increase the
border patrols to enable the police to look out for the smuggling
of guns and explosives that could be used for terrorist
activities.
"We agree to cooperate to intensively guard the borders. We
will carefully examine people and materials that cross the
borders," said Soenarko.
However, the Indonesian police failed to raise the issue of
the main suspect in the BNI scandal, Maria Pauline Lumowa, as
well as the issue of extradition agreement in the meeting.
"No, we didn't talk about Maria or any other issues aside from
terrorism," said Soenarko.
Maria has been named a suspect in the Rp 1.7 trillion bank
scam and is staying in Singapore to avoid police arrest.
Indonesia and Singapore have no extradition treaty.