Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, with new partner Thailand, will begin air patrols over the strategic Malacca Strait to curb piracy and increase security, their defence force chiefs said yesterday.

The three littoral states of Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore have already begun co-ordinated sea patrols but the chiefs said in a joint statement that there was still "room for improvement to strengthen the arrangement."

Along with Thailand, which attended the talks for the first time, they agreed to establish two working groups to set out details of the co-ordinated air patrols, and enhanced sea patrols.

The initiative will extend "from the northern gateway of the Strait of Malacca, involving neighbouring Thailand, to Singapore Strait in the south," they said at the end of two days of talks in Kuala Lumpur.

The four military chiefs said it was in their mutual interest "to come to a consensus in working out amicable procedures on how best we can keep the Strait of Malacca free from any kind of threats without compromising our sovereignty."

The defence chiefs also reiterated that while other nations using the waterway were welcome to provide assistance, security remained the responsibility of the countries which border the straits.

"Certainly the active players, the guys that are pivotal in deciding our fate is we (ourselves)," Malaysian Defence Chief Mohamad Anwar Mohamad Nor told reporters.

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 strait, 960 kilometres long and 1.2 kilometres wide at its narrowest point, is notoriously vulnerable to pirate attacks and governments in the region also believe it is a tempting target for terrorists.

News reports have said that Singapore is playing host to private security firms that are allowed to provide armed guards on vessels in the country's waters, but its Defence Chief Ng Yat Chung insisted there was no such agreement.

(China Daily August 3, 2005)