Making Malaysia a strong maritime nation is no longer a challenge. It has become an obligation. A responsibility for every Malaysian. More so for political leaders.
Currently, close to 40 per cent of the gross national product comes from the sea, which is almost twice the size of the landmass. Besides size, the sea dictates the national defence strategy as it "divides" the country physically into two continents.
Sabah and Sarawak are thousands of kilometres away from Peninsular Malaysia. The challenge is to treat the sea and the landmass as one undivided territory. Despite its significant contribution, Malaysia has no ocean policy at the federal level.
Developing an integrated ocean policy for Malaysia requires a holistic plan. The responsibility to design a national ocean policy, long overdue, lies with everyone, with the public sector leading the change.
A single comprehensive integrated ocean policy requires strong national leadership and calls for the rearranging of the fragmented sea-related institutions in the country that facilitates rather than defeats such a policy.
Such a policy will not only help address threats from the multiple, and conflicting uses of the sea and the adjacent coastal zones that can no longer be addressed on a sector-by-sector basis.
The government needs to work across ministries, bridging the interests of the public with the private sector in a whole societal approach. Merging the interests of the 14 states and our maritime communities in the federal policy is a significant attribute of an integrated national maritime policy.
Countries like South Korea, Canada, Japan and neighbouring Indonesia have long recognised the importance of an integrated ocean policy by reforming the maritime sector and providing it with a one-stop coordinating agency or ministry.
Putrajaya must take the responsibility to remake Malaysia into a strong maritime nation. Besides equipping the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) with faster hulls and missiles, Malaysia also needs to modernise our maritime-related industries, especially the ship- building industries, to lessen dependence on foreign powers and save foreign exchange.
There was a time when we almost got the right to build submarines with help from a foreign power. Another foreign power offered to sell Malaysia four submarines at a fraction of the price we paid for two prototypes from France.
The two submarines we now have are not enough to patrol our exclusive economic zone. We need a minimum of eight. Singapore has four; Vietnam six; Indonesia six and Thailand is reportedly buying three from China, according to one source, to counter Malaysia.
In short, the country paid through its nose to procure the basic combat ships for the RMN. Besides a strong navy, Malaysia also needs an effective intelligence and surveillance reporting system plus strong enforcement and policing agencies to protect our resources at sea like fishing, hydrocarbon resources and other forms of marine biodiversity.
Delaying the introduction of an integrated ocean policy will make it more difficult to prevent pollution and bio-piracy of critical living resources. The nation loses US$6 billion a year from illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing by foreign powers.
Putrajaya needs to explore additional avenues to expand the nation's sea power capabilities. Strengthening the maritime industries — shipping, ports and services and technical support —is critical to developing a nation that desires to be strong at sea.
The sea power concept now embraces managing the maritime related assets and resources in an integrated manner. Driving the sea power concept should be a liberal science, engineering-based education system and strong leaders who understand the importance of the ocean to humanity and national resilience.
The writer is a keen student of geopolitics