Is The Straits Of Melaka Free From Piracy?

Malaysia has denied that the busy Melaka Straits is infested with pirates as claimed by London-based Llyod's Market Association Joint War Committee (JWC).

"Contrary to the (JWC) report, the Melaka Straits is in fact the safest in the world," Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) chief Tan Sri Ilyas Din said when asked to comment on the report Thursday. He condemned the report, saying it had besmirched the world's busiest shipping lane and caused unnecessary fear among the international shipping community.

He said JWC reports about piracy in the Melaka Straits were mostly "inaccurate and unclear" and had somewhat undermined naval policing efforts mounted by the Malaysian navy in the area. "Small incidents along the straits are being sensationalised...our efforts in policing the straits have been undermined," he said after witnessing the commissioning of the new generation patrol vessel "KD Pahang" at the RMN Armada base here.

He also said that some of the piracy incidents that were reported by the JWC had happened elsewhere and not within the Melaka Straits. He pointed out that the JWC had obtained most of its information and data from the International Maritime Bureau and commercial ships plying the Melaka Straits. "Some of these ships could have provided inaccurate information to JWC. Sometimes, the ship captains spotted small vessels plying the straits and assumed that they were pirates' boats," he said.

He added that many ship captains were not familiar with the geography of the Melaka Straits. As such, when they came across incidents involving pirates elsewhere, they assumed that these happened in the Melaka Straits.

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