Territory no longer an issue in Malacca Strait security
Territory no longer an issue in Malacca Strait security
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Four Southeast Asian countries -- Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore
and Thailand -- are expected to soon agree on a standard
operating procedure (SOP) in securing the pirate-infested Strait
of Malacca, according to a senior official.
Chief of the Indonesian Navy's western fleet Rear Adm. Tedjo
Edhy Purdijatno said on Saturday that under the SOP, patrol boats
from each country could enter each other's water territory when
chasing pirates, but needed to refrain from taking military
action or opening fire.
Tedjo said that in the past, cross-border pursuit had been
hampered by the territory issue.
"But once the SOP is signed, it will be a different story," he
was quoted by state news agency Antara as saying.
The Strait of Malacca, a narrow 805-kilometer waterway is used
by some 50,000 ships a year carrying a quarter of global trade
and nearly all oil imports for Japan and China. But ships have
often been targeted by pirates, and recently there have been
fears it could become a target for a terror attack.
The three littoral states of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore
launched coordinated sea patrols of the strait last year, but
piracy and robbery have remained rampant and they are under
pressure from major users such as Japan and the United States to
step up security. The three states later invited Thailand, as a
close neighbor, to conduct a joint patrol of the strait.
Elsewhere, Tedjo said in addition to the sea patrol, the "Eyes
in the Sky" coordinated air patrol by the four countries was
recently launched.
Under the program, the personnel or aircraft of each country
could also enter each other's territory, but the limit was set at
three nautical miles from the coast, he said.
Tedjo also said that governments of user countries, such as
the U.S. and Japan, were expected to soon deliver promised
assistance, including in the form of equipment and training.
Compared to the past two years, security in the Strait of
Malacca, however, seems to be improving.
Pottengal Mukundan, London-based director of the International
Maritime Bureau (IMB), said there was a dramatic reduction in
attacks on ships in the strategic waterway this year, thanks to
intensified efforts by Indonesia to boost naval and air patrols.
Mukundan said Indonesia launched large-scale sea and air
patrols in July to enforce maritime security in the strait in an
operation code-named Gurita 2005.
As a result, there was a sharp drop in attacks to 10 in the
first nine months of 2005 from 25 in the same period of 2004.
The figures for the first few months of 2005 were also
affected by the Dec. 26 Indian Ocean tsunami, which devastated
parts of Indonesia and also curtailed pirates' activities.