Thailand offers help to secure Malacca Strait

Thailand offers help to secure Malacca Strait

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Thailand expressed on Tuesday its will to assist Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore to stamp out piracy in the Strait of Malacca even though there has been opposition to Thai involvement.

Thailand Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon raised the piracy and security issue during a meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his local counterpart here Hassan Wirayuda on Tuesday.

"I have raised the possibility of Thailand's contribution to strengthening the security within the strait," he told reporters after the meeting.

"It is a very important strait, we are eager to work closely with Indonesia and with the other countries bordering the strait,"

"We looked into the issue about the need to have capacity- building, we want to participate in policing the strait so it is safe for international navigation," Kantathi said.

More than a quarter of the world's goods and oil passes through the narrow strait. Many have expressed their concerns over the growing piracy attacks along the strait.

A number of countries, namely the United States, Japan and India have expressed their readiness to help the littoral states deal with or curb the rampant crime in the strait.

Singapore was initially open to U.S. involvement in securing the strait, but Indonesia and Malaysia said 'no'.

Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore have tried to organize coordinated patrols to stamp out piracy along the 600-kilometer strait, but their efforts have completely failed to stop the pirates from a rash of attacks in recent weeks.

The newly appointed Thai minister arrived in Jakarta on Tuesday on a two-day visit.

He also discussed the arrest of five Indonesian pirates, who attempted to hijack a Thai fishing boat just north of the Strait of Malacca off of Thailand. The authorities have charged them with piracy and illegal possession of weapons.

"We have arrested them. They were heavily armed and according to evidence we have found so far they are pirates," he said.

Suphamongkhon also held a meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda and former Indonesian president Abdurahman 'Gus Dur' Wahid to discuss the much-debated southern Thailand issues.

Many of the people involved in the conflict, according to Kantathi, have been misled into believing they are fighting a religious war against Thailand's government, which is dominated by Buddhists, he said.

The majority of Thailand's population embrace Buddhism, only a small minority in the deep south of country are Muslims.

"What we have found in southern Thailand is that it's not a religious problem but a problem of certain groups using religious justification for certain acts of violence," the AFP reported quoting Kantathi as saying.

"For those who have been misled, and there have been so many people who have been misled because of this misuse of religion, we want to use understanding and reintegrate them into society," he said. "We are happy to have multiple faiths living in Thailand."

Kantathi asked Gus Dur to actively partake in resolving problems in southern Thailand.

"Thailand is working hard to create peace in southern Thailand and needs cooperation from Indonesia to promote understanding that what happens in Thailand is not a religious problem," he said.