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Some Asean states cool to US maritime security plan
A United States proposal for regional cooperation to combat sea piracy and terrorism threats in Asia-Pacific waters was received coolly yesterday by some Asean countries, an Indonesian official said.
Speaking after a meeting of senior officials from the 23-member Asean Regional Forum (ARF), he said that representatives of these countries felt that South-east Asia should take the lead in dealing with the regional issue.

The forum includes the 10 Asean states among its 23 members.
Indonesia and Malaysia had a different proposal which they announced during a preparatory forum in Yogyakarta for next month’s regional security meeting.
They said a seminar would be held in Kuala Lumpur before the end of the year to address the maritime scourge.

US officials, led by Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly, were careful to not step on regional toes.
They made the point that Asean on its own was capable of keeping the region safe and downplayed concerns that Washington wants to deploy troops here.
Mr Kelly was quoted by The Jakarta Post as saying: ’There are lots of strange stories. We have no intentions in the Malacca Straits.
’It is an international straits with a lot of Singapore, a lot of Indonesia and a lot of Malaysia in it.’
Asean secretary-general Ong Keng Yong told The Straits Times that through the Yogyakarta discussions this week, the Americans were ’diplomatic’.
’They were quite open and accommodating. They did not approach this with the idea that their proposal is the one that has to be accepted.
’They were open to Asean’s suggestion on how these kinds of threats can be handled,’ he said.

Yet American unilateralism has been heavily criticised by some Asean leaders in recent years, and it became clear yesterday that some feathers were ruffled anyway.
Mr Marty Natalegawa, spokesman for Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry, said: ’These types of proposals should be initiated and led by countries of the region.’
He said Indonesia ’has appreciation’ for Washington’s proposal, but added: ’We are keen to avoid the impression that ours is a region in need of dire help, one that needs an external fire brigade to put out our fires for us. We are not that desperate.’
Indonesian officials also clarified that maritime security is ’a central, major component’ of the Asean Security Community idea that Jakarta proposed during a meeting of the regional association last year in Bali.

The threat from maritime security problems is clear.
Pirate attacks decreased worldwide in the first three months of this year, with the International Maritime Bureau office in Kuala Lumpur reporting 79 compared to 103 during the same period last year.
But Indonesia’s high seas remained the world’s most pirate- infested waters, and hijacks in the Straits of Malacca jumped from three between January and March last year to eight this year.

Singapore Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean last month said security along the straits, through which some 50,000 ships - carrying around a quarter of the world’s trade and about half its oil supply - pass yearly, was ’not adequate’.
The fear expressed by officials is that terrorists may hijack a ship at sea and use it to carry out attacks in major seaports in the region, disrupting economic and political stability.
Mr Ong said: ’Asean countries have always been addressing this issue, but would like to intensify their cooperation.
’Regional countries have to take primary responsibility for this problem, but also be open to cooperation with other interested states.’
Posted by: TS(vice girl) 2004-05-12
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=32833