AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE,
Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia on Thursday said joint patrols with neighbouring Indonesia against piracy in the busy Malacca Strait had cut down on pirate attacks.
Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is also defence minister, said the coordinated patrols had helped to allay fears that the bustling waterway was unsafe.
“Malaysia and Indonesia stepped up the coordinated patrols between their maritime agencies to counter and correct this perception and to avoid foreign military presence in the strait,” he was quoted saying by Bernama news agency.
There has been a sharp drop in attacks from 25 in the first nine months of 2004 to 10 in the same period this year.
The figures for the first few months of 2005 were also affected by last year's December 26 Indian Ocean tsunami, which devastated parts of Indonesia and also curtailed pirates' activities.
The narrow strait is bordered by Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
Najib said aerial surveillance begun in September — using aircraft from all three countries — proved that littoral states were capable of managing security in the strait.
“The issue of peace in the Malacca Strait is the joint responsibility of the littoral states and (we) reject the presence of foreign troops in the strait,” said Indonesian Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono, in Malaysia for a border meeting.
Last month, Pottengal Mukundan, London-based director of the International Maritime Bureau, said there was a dramatic reduction in attacks on ships in the strategic waterway this year.
“We believe it is attributed to an increase in patrols by Indonesia on its side of the strait,” he said.
Pirate attacks worldwide dropped 18 percent in the first nine months of this year to 205 but Indonesian waters remained the most dangerous, and accounted for nearly one third of the total.
