S'pore welcomes RI's Strait patrol plan

S'pore welcomes RI's Strait patrol plan

Jake Loyd-Smith, Associated Press

Singapore on Sunday welcomed Indonesia's plan for the two
countries and Malaysia to hold joint naval patrols against
terrorism and piracy in the vital Malacca Straits.

But Singapore Defense Minister Teo Chee Hean stressed that the
city-state also wanted to involve other trading nations and port
users in plans to protect the critical waterway, which carries
half of the world's oil supply and a third of its trade.

"We welcome the proposal from the Indonesian Navy Chief for
greater maritime cooperation for the security of the Malacca and
Singapore Straits," Teo said in a statement sent to The
Associated Press.

Singapore officials and security experts have warned that
terror groups could hijack ships in the waterway and use them as
floating bombs, or sink a vessel to block the channel, which has
narrow and shallow choke points.

"It's also very important to recognize that the international
community - shippers, the International Maritime Organization,
trading nations, port users and so on - are also involved in this
security issue," Teo's statement said.

He didn't name any other countries.

Indonesia's navy chief Adm. Bernard Kent Sondakh said on
Thursday he wanted to set up joint patrols with Malaysia and
Singapore. Malaysia on Friday embraced the plan for the 900
kilometer straits.

The Malacca Straits are the preferred sea traffic route
between the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

The waterway is flanked by Indonesia's Sumatra island and
peninsular Malaysia. Singapore, which has been the most vocal of
the three in urging better security, sits at the straits'
southern end.

Washington in March proposed deploying elite U.S. forces in
the straits to bolster security. But that suggestion was rejected
by Muslim-majority Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta as an infringement on
their sovereignty, putting the focus on what the three Southeast
Asian countries could do themselves.

Teo said he'd discussed enhanced maritime security with
Indonesian military chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto when the pair
met on the sidelines of a security conference in Singapore last
month.

"We agreed that we should ask our navies to move ahead with
greater cooperation for maritime security," Teo said.

Singapore had also moved to bolster security in the straits
with Malaysia, Teo said. At the same June conference Malaysia and
Singapore discussed "more information exchange, coordinated
patrols, as well as linking up our operations centers," he said.