SINGAPORE : Malaysian Defence Minister Najib Tun Razak has called upon the international community to play a larger role in the protection of the Malacca Strait, one of the busiest sea lanes in the world.
Speaking to top defence officials at the Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore, he said coordinated patrols by Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia have given positive results, but admits there are limitations.
When coordinated patrols along the Malacca Strait started in July 2004, incidents of pirate attacks went down by 25 percent.
The success of the patrols even prompted an invitation to the Royal Thai Navy to join in the patrolling effort.
Their role is to enhance security along the approaches to the Straits.
Mr Najib says safeguarding the Malacca Strait is the primary responsibility of the littoral states but he also recognises the limitations of bearing that responsibility alone, because securing the busy sea lane would require enormous resources to make it unattractive to pirates and terrorists.
He said international stakeholders are important and cooperation could be in the form of enhancing the capabilities of front line agencies.
An idea he proposed was the use of "eyes in the sky".
Mr Najib said, "The assets could be flown by the international community but the consoles could be operated by the littoral states. In operational terms, it's necessary because if you have eyes in the sky if you can pick out small targets, and it could be transmitted through voice and data link and we could have our assets intercept these targets immediately."
But Mr Najib made clear such international cooperation must not impinge on the territorial integrity and national sovereignty of the littoral states.
He also dismissed the idea that foreign ships be escorted by their own naval vessels.
Mr Najib said, "If it is constituted as our territorial waters, the answer is that we wouldn't want foreign ships to be protecting their own ships; we should be protecting you."
He added that Malaysia also favours a "joint movement" along the Malacca Strait.
But before engaging the wider international community, Mr Najib says Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia must first develop a common position on how the Straits of Malacca must be secured. - CNA /ct