LIMA '09
'Look at piracy in South China Sea'

2009/11/30

LANGKAWI: With piracy in the Straits of Malacca all but eradicated, attention should now be turned to the South China Sea. Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the five littoral nations around the sea have to work together to combat piracy.

"Piracy there is not conventional any more. Pirates feel that the countries don't patrol the sea enough," said Zahid, at a press conference after delivering the keynote address at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (Lima) International Maritime Conference 2009.

The conference, titled "The Changing Nature of Maritime Security: Challenges and the Application of Technology", was attended by top navy men from 24 countries.

Zahid explained that pirates did not think twice about travelling more than 1,800km from their points of origin.

"So, it's hard for patrol ships to track them.

"Technology is useless without cooperation."

Zahid said Asean naval forces shouldn't compete with each other because there was no longer enmity among the countries.

"The enemies now are pirates and terrorists."

He said piracy in the South China Sea was still small in number and in scale, with most reports being of petty theft. However, he said he had been advised by the United States government that petty theft would eventually become piracy.

Royal Malaysian Navy chief Admiral Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Jaafar said more exercises with neighbouring countries, upgrading of assets and greater cooperation between maritime enforcement agencies was needed for the country to stay on top of the situation.

In his speech earlier, Zahid said the lessons learnt from combating piracy in the Straits of Malacca could be applied to the current problem off Somalia's coasts.

He said though it might not be possible to apply the Asean solution to Somalia and the Gulf of Aden, some lessons could be gleaned from the war on piracy in the Straits of Malacca.

A long-term solution for the piracy problem off Somalia's coast is proving to be elusive, in contrast with what happened in the Straits of Malacca, when a few years ago a slew of pirate attacks and bad publicity led to its listing as a war risk zone and the threat of external involvement.

The situation prompted Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia to launch coordinated patrols and "Eye-in-the-Sky" initiatives.

Last year, pirate activities in the straits were negligible.