Australia, Britain and New Zealand may play a role in securing the piracy-prone Malacca Strait but the sovereignty of bordering states would be safeguarded, Malaysia’s defence minister said on Monday.
“They are interested in the situation in the Straits of Malacca,” Najib Razak said after talks with the armed forces chiefs of Australia, Britain, New Zealand, and Singapore, who form the Five Power Defence Arrangement (FPDA).
“They are studying how the FPDA can help ensure security in the Straits of Malacca, in terms of capacity-building to help Malaysia and the other littoral states,” Najib told a news conference.
Asked if the FPDA member countries would join Malaysia’s “Eyes in the Sky” aerial patrol initiative, he said “They can join the Eyes in the Sky programme as long as it doesn’t infringe on the sovereignty of the littoral states.”
“If they offer their own aircraft, it must be operated by Malaysian armed forces personnel.”
“For example if they offer a maritime aircraft, the consoles of that aircraft must be operated together with Malaysian personnel. This is one of the pre-conditions under the Eyes in the Sky programme,” he said.
The 32-year-old FPDA acts as a bulwark for the defence of Singapore and Malaysia from external threats.
Under the FPDA, which was signed in 1971, the five nations will consult each other in the event of external aggression or threat of attack against either Southeast Asian country.
Najib said the FPDA had been expanded beyond traditional territorial threats to also deal with non-conventional security threats such as terrorism, and conducts regular security exercises focusing on acts of terror.
The Eyes in the Sky project involving Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand was launched last September, with each of the countries taking turns conducting aerial patrols of the strait.
The Malacca Strait is one of the world’s most important waterways, with 50 000 ships carrying about one-third of the globe’s trade passing through it each year.
However the waterway is notoriously vulnerable to pirate attacks and governments in the region also fear it could be a tempting target for terrorists. – AFP