Jt patrols launched to protect Malacca Strait

The Indonesian, Malaysian and Singaporean chiefs signed an "immediate execution order" for the patrols in the piracy-plagued Malacca Strait, which carries half the world's oil shipments.

Some 15-20 ships from the three countries bordering the strait will guard the 800-kilometre (500-mile) waterway year-round.

The agreement to work together follows US suggestions earlier this year that American forces could help patrol the strait -- an idea that raised hackles in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Indonesian military chief Endriartono Sutarto said other countries were welcome to supply equipment and skills, but any proposal that foreign forces join the patrols would need approval from all three countries.

Singapore military chief Ng Yat Chung said the pact shows the littoral states are serious in ensuring safety in the waterway. More than 50,000 ships carrying a quarter of the world's trade use the strait every year.

"We recognise that the security of the Malacca Strait goes beyond the interest of the three countries. There are many other stakeholders in the security of the strait," Ng told reporters aboard this Indonesian navy ship where the order was signed.

Japan receives almost all its oil imports through the strait and China 80 percent of its oil imports. The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) recorded 28 pirate attacks in the waterway last year, almost all of them in Indonesian waters.

The US and Singapore also fear that terrorists could hijack an oil or gas tanker in the Malacca Strait or the adjacent Singapore Strait, and turn it into a floating bomb with devastating consequences for world trade.