Malacca Straits—Security Conference

The extremely vital Malacca Straits are the focus of a regional security conference this week.^[1] The 1.3 kilometer-wide passage daily sees “[r]oughly 600 freighters loaded with everything from Japanese nuclear waste to raw materials for China, and tankers carrying oil from West Asia,” pass through its waters.^[2]

In a two-day meeting in Malaysia’s federal administrative capital of Putrajaya, the heads of the coast guards from Japan, China, South Korea, Hong Kong, India, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, are meeting to “tackle issues of piracy, transborder crime, and maritime terrorism.”^[3] The Malacca Strait stretches nearly 1000 kilometers, and nearly 50,000 ships pass through the straits, carrying “half the world’s oil and one-third of its trade.”^[4]

The countries in the region clearly delineate piracy and terrorism, which is appropriate; Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak calls piracy the “biggest maritime threat in this region and not terrorism.”^[5] He also criticized the move by Lloyd’s of London to call the region a “war risk” zone, saying that the “data don’t support the contention. Certainly the number of cases of sea piracy has dropped drastically.”^[6] There is no terrorism in the Straits, just “pure and simple acts of piracy. It is stretching the imagination to want to categorize the Malacca Strait as a war zone.”^[7]

The conference coincides with the launching of Malaysia’s new coast guard, “officially named the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency [hereinafter MMEA],” which will eventually be equipped with 72 ships and an air wing; 4,000 personnel will be attached to the MMEA.^[8]

The implications of threats to shipping are stark, which explains the increased attention on maritime safety. “One single burning supertanker or oil tanker can immediately spike oil prices; increase the cost of shipping due to the need to use alternate routes; congest sea lanes and ports and hit the environmental tranquility of this region.”^[9] Furthermore, insurance costs have risen dramatically due to piracy losses.^[10] And finally, piracy and terrorism fears have caused some strained relations between nations. Indonesia suspects Malaysia of harboring Aceh separatists, and it wants Sumatra to “cease the flow of illegal immigrants.”^[11] Territorial disputes have also arisen over various islands in that vast archipelago, with Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam undermining efforts “to effectively continue anti-piracy movements.”^[12] The conference is aimed in no small part to addressing those concerns.

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[1] Security of Malacca Strait Dominates Asian Coast Guard’s Meeting, Kyodo (via AP), Mar. 21, 2006 (subscription only).
[2] Amrita Dey, Piracy Scare in SE Asia, The Statesman, Mar. 18, 2006.
[3] Kyodo, supra note 1.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] Dey, supra note 2.
[10] Id.
[11] Id.
[12] Id.