Reuters.com

February 27, 2006

 

US, Japan To Help Malaysia Boost Strait Security

 

 

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - The United States is ready to help Malaysia boost security in the vital Malacca Strait once it concludes a pact on joint air patrols with other littoral states, a U.S. defense commander said on Monday.

 

Separately, Malaysia's defense chief said Japan, a major user of the busy sea lane, would provide a ship next month to Malaysia's coast guard to help patrol the strait, which carries roughly a quarter of global trade.

 

Admiral William Fallon, commander-in-chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, said the United States was also looking to provide defense equipment to Indonesia following the resumption of military ties with Jakarta.

 

Similar help is also on the cards for Malaysia, which along with Indonesia and Singapore, is one of the three states bordering the Malacca Strait.

 

"We are waiting for certain things to occur," said Fallon, whose command covers more than half the globe and includes 300,000 military personnel.

 

Malaysia's armed forces chief, Admiral Anwar Mohamad Nor, said Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore would sign a pact in Indonesia's Batam Island next month on standard operating procedure on joint air patrols.

 

"We are hopeful that once this agreement is formalised, then we will have better understanding of what we might do. So, we are standing by to help," Fallon, on a tour of Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, told reporters in the Malaysian capital.

 

Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia have indicated they would like help in the form of equipment, patrol aircraft, training and intelligence sharing but have made clear foreign forces would not be welcomed.

 

There are fears the narrow waterway, which carries a quarter of global trade and already plagued by pirates, could become a target for a terror attack.

 

More than 63,000 vessels passed through the strait in 2004, carrying nearly all the oil imports of Japan, South Korea and China.

 

Fallon, on his first visit to Malaysia since assuming the job a year ago, said there had been dramatic drop in cases of piracy in the strait last year.

 

"I'm encouraged what I see just from this visit alone.

 

"Indonesia is constructing a series of radar sites along the coast. You have that in existence on the Malaysian side. Singapore has careful monitoring of their area.

 

"I think the bad actors of the world, the criminals who are doing most of these things, recognize that it may not be as easy as targets now, so they are backing off," he said.

 

But he said the potential threat of sea terrorism remained.

"Indonesia is constructing a series of radar sites along the coast ...

I believe these are the Master-T radar systems.

 

"I think the bad actors of the world, the criminals who are doing most of these things, recognize that it may not be as easy as targets now, so they are backing off," he said. But he said the potential threat of sea terrorism remained.

 

That seems a little overly optimistic to me. In my mind, the Malacca Strait and the general area is ripe for a terrorist incident.