S'pore calls for stronger military ties

S'pore calls for stronger military ties

Agencies
Jakarta

Minister of Defense Matori Abdul Djalil (left) greets visiting
Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister Tony Tan at the former's office
as Singaporean Ambassador to Indonesia Edward Lee looks on.

On the first day of a three-day working visit on Monday, Tan
also met with President Megawati Soekarnoputri and held talks on
various issues including terrorism and piracy.

Tan, who is also Singapore's defense minister, said that
Indonesia and Singapore should build stronger military relations
to battle piracy in the two countries' waters.

In July, the Kuala Lumpur-based Piracy Reporting Centre said
Indonesia was the leading contributor to worldwide piracy attacks
in the first half of this year with 44 incidents.

Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia share the Malacca Straits
where piracy has been growing.

The seas between the Indonesian islands south of Singapore
have also become notorious for piracy.

An archipelago of over 17,000 islands, Indonesia itself covers
some 7.9 million square kilometers of maritime territory but
lacks a sufficient naval security system.

Tan also said the two defense forces also pledged to continue
their cooperation in intelligence information exchange on
terrorism.

Tan said cooperation between the two countries on counter-
terrorism was "very important for the stability of this part of
the world."

During the rest of his stay, Tan is also scheduled to pay a
courtesy call on Vice President Hamzah Haz and meet with
Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono, House of Representatives Speaker Akbar
Tandjung and People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais.