Managing Maritime Security in Malacca Straits.Is It Possible to Achieve Maritime Domain Awareness at Malacca Straits?

INTRODUCTION

1. Seafarers have sought an understanding of the oceans for centuries. Modern day enable us to relied upon technology to collect data in this environment. Today's complex and ambiguous threats place an even greater premium on knowledge and a shared understanding of the maritime domain. Adequately addressing these threats requires effective and superior decision-making. Decision superiority is enabled by ensuring global maritime information dominance through the collection, integration and dissemination of information and intelligence, and the development of knowledge. An effective understanding of the global maritime domain enables focused law enforcement and military action, supports strategic decision-making and operational threat response while promoting freedom, civil liberties, and prosperity for all. On 22 Sep 07, MV Kraton, an Indonesia registered product tanker, had been boarded by several robbers about 40nm south east of Bintan Island. This incident has been reported by the shipmaster to Tanjung Buyut pilot station in Palembang, Indonesia. This information later been passed on to the Singaporean and Malaysian authorities to enable them to search for the vessel and on 27 Sep 07, Indonesia authorities managed to recover this vessel and arrested seven robbers. The incident shows the importance of information sharing in order to expedite action taken and later bring success to the whole operation.

2. Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) is defined as all areas and things of, on, under, relating to, adjacent to, or bordering on a sea, ocean, or other navigable waterway, including all maritime-related activities, infrastructure, people, cargo, and vessels and other conveyances. In a simple word, MDA is defined as the understanding of the situation at sea to enable maritime security. The aim of the essay to discuss whether is it possible to achieve MDA in Malacca Strait? First, it will highlight the reason for cooperative MDA in Malacca Strait and the reason behind it. Then it will look into the challenges and security concern among the littoral states and the maritime user. It also describe existing cooperation and agreement that been established in order to ensure security and stability and identified benefits from all these. Finally, it will discuss the initiative that been done and a ways ahead in achieving MDA in Malacca Strait.

THE REASON FOR COOPERATIVE MDA

3. Malacca Straits is a golden heritage of the littoral states such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. It is not only rich in marine resources but is one of the oldest and busiest shipping lanes in the world. Malacca Straits serves as a primary conduit for the movement of cargo and human traffics between Indo-European region and the rest of Asia and Australia. It is the shortest East-West sea route compared to the Indonesia's Macassar and Lombok Straits. Every year about RM3.8 trillion worth of goods and services pass through the region formed by the Straits of Malacca and other associated shipping routes. By using the Malacca Straits, the Japanese petroleum Industry saves up to RM1.3 billion annually.

4. Such maritime threats include piracy, hijacking, the illicit trafficking of contraband and people, terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction that find carriage and conveyance through world's increasingly congested waterways. In particular, the terrorist threat in the maritime domain remains clear and present danger. A successful terrorist strike on a major port or waterways would not only seriously disrupt global trade but also have a severe knock-on effect on many national economies dependent on the unimpeded flow of "right-on-time" maritime trade. Any deterioration in maritime security that results in the prolonged disruption or restriction of maritime trade along strategic waterways like the narrow and congested Malacca Strait, accounts for a quarter of the world's maritime trade and 80% of the oil bound for China and Japan, can cause a hike in freight and insurance rates to exorbitant levels and severely disrupt the global supply chain.

5. Enhancing maritime security is not wholly a domestic concern of one state's national interests or responsibility, and states can ill afford to be provincial or parochial in tackling common maritime challenges that respect no borders. The MDA initiative attempts to collect, analyse, assess and disseminate intelligence in support of defending the littoral states from maritime threats. Such effort will entail persistent monitoring of the maritime domain, with information exchange via ready access to disparate databases for maritime knowledge sharing in order to build a Common Operating Picture for greater situational awareness. As President Bush has well articulated for the US project "The heart of the MDA program is accurate information, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance of all vessels, cargo and people extending well beyond our traditional maritime boundaries".

CHALLENGES TO COOPERATION

6. Even though we have good relationships among the littoral state, but there always have some challenges to build up cooperation among the littoral states. Some of the challenges are:

a. Demography. The internal turbulent between Free-Aceh Movement (GAM) and Indonesia government is one of the challenges to cooperation. GAM was a separatist group seeking independence for the Aceh region of Sumatra from Indonesia. Since Sumatra situated at area of Malacca Straits, the problem occur at Sumatra have impact the peace of maritime economic. The Joint War Committee (JWC) representing the London marine insurance and Aegis Defence Services has declared in its risk assessment that a maritime terrorist and piracy attack in the Straits of Malacca is a potential threat. Intelligence and information gathered from Piracy, Jemaah Islamiyah operating in Southeast Asia and the threats from the Free-Aceh Movement (G.A.M) on hijacking vessels, clearly indicates the level of penetration of terrorist organization infiltrating piracy operations in the Straits of Malacca. Although the littoral states and to some extend the ship owners association has regretted over the decision of the JWC, it is without a doubt that we must be prepared for a maritime attack. A warranted lack of evidence pointing to an immediate threat from maritime terrorism and to completely rule out the possibility of an attack in the Straits would be an incorrect assessment.

b. Sovereignty and Overlapping claims. As the issue of sovereignty, is the most controversial issue pertaining to the Straits of Malacca. Each of littoral state tries with hard to claim own