Malaysia Does Not Want Help Vs. Piracy
PUTRAJAYA, MALAYSIA, 2/25/2005
Malaysia does not want help from outside the region in patrolling one of the world's most strategic waterways - the Strait of Malacca - a
government minister said Friday, despite a recent rise in pirate attacks there.
Officials are "quite happy" with
security in the strait, a
trade and
oil shipping lane between Malaysia and Indonesia's Sumatra island, said Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar.
"The cooperation between the various countries that share the straits has been very good," Syed Hamid told reporters. "I don't think there should be any intervention from outside parties."
The minister was commenting on an International Maritime Bureau report that 37 pirate attacks occurred in the waterway last year, up from 28 in 2003.
The United States and
Singapore have warned that the strait could also be vulnerable to a terrorist attack.
Last March, Adm. Thomas Fargo, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, said an American plan to heighten
security in the waterway might require a detachment of elite U.S. troops to be stationed nearby.
Malaysia and
Indonesia, both predominantly Muslim, rejected the U.S. plan. But it was embraced by
Singapore, a strong U.S. ally in the region.
Most of the pirate attacks involved vessels being fired on and crew kidnapped for ransom. Thirty-six seafarers were abducted in the strait last year; four were killed and three injured.
The pirates struck despite Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore launching coordinated naval patrols in the 550-mile
route, which is used by 50,000 ships each year.