Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia's deputy prime minister Najib Razak
on Tuesday called on countries plying the Malacca Strait to increase
their support and aid towards maintaining the security of the
waterways.
Najib, who is also defence minister, said the littoral states -
Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore-- were currently shouldering the
main responsibility of maintaining the safety of the straits.
'There may be a possibility in the future when the cost of
maintaining the straits may reach a point where it may not be
possible for littoral states to finance the maintenance of current
projects and fund future ones,' Najib said at a two-day conference in
the capital Kuala Lumpur, aimed at enhancing security in the straits.
Najib urged user states to offer greater assistance towards
maintaining security, in terms of technical training and exchange of
information as well as through funding.
'Navigational safety in the straits should not be taken for
granted by the international community. It should in fact be the
collective responsibility of the users as well as the littoral
states.
'Malaysia welcomes any initiatives through the concept of burden
sharing that could enhance the navigational safety of the straits as
long as such endeavours do not infringe the principles of
sovereignty,' he was quoted as saying by the official Bernama agency.
Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy, who had read out Najib's
opening statement, later said that there was no need for foreign
military intervention by user countries at the straits.
'There is no real threat of a terrorist attack in the straits...
the three littoral states can and have managed it well so far,' Chan
said.
He stressed that assistance from user states would not jeopardize
the sovereignty of littoral states, adding that the three countries
would continue to increase joint security operations at the Malacca
Strait.
The Straits of Malacca is one of world's busiest sea lanes with
more than 65,000 vessels passing through the critical passageway
last year.
The waterway is notorious for pirate activity, but increased
cooperation between the littoral states in recent years has
significantly reduced the number of attacks on seafarers, piracy
watchdog the International Maritime Bureau said.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
Your Talkback on this Story