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Incidents of piracy in the Straits of Malacca have dropped
drastically due to joint initiatives by the littoral states to
guard the world’s vital channel, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri
Muhyiddin Yassin said.
The number of piracy cases has dropped from 12 in 2005 to two last
year and to only one so far this year.
He attributed the drastic drop in piracy cases to the joint
Eye-In-The-Sky aerial surveillance initiative undertaken by the
littoral states and the establishment of the Malaysian Maritime
Enforcement Agency.
“While we have curbed piracy, other forms of crime at sea such as
smuggling of humans and contraband still prevail,” he noted.
Muhyiddin said this when opening the Maritime Institute of
Malaysia international conference on the Straits of Malacca here
yesterday.
He said, the littoral states remained strongly opposed to the
physical presence of foreign forces patrolling the Straits of
Malacca, he said.
“However, we welcome transfer of technology and capacity building
to enhance safety and security. We certainly do not want the
straits to be wrongly declared as a war risk zone again,” he said.
Muhyiddin expressed interest in technology-based projects such as
the maritime electronic highway that could be used to reduce
navigational risks as the volume of vessels plying the Straits is
projected to increase to 120,000 by the year 2015 from 75,000 last
year.
“As a littoral state, Malaysia is committed to acquiring best
available technologies and practices to manage the straits while
maintaining and exercising its sovereignty in accordance with
international law.
“Perhaps this is an opportune time for us to explore the use of
technologies for surveillance such as long distance day and night
cameras, unmanned aerial vehicles and satellite imaging,” he
added. |
