To Serve And To Be Protected : A Comprehensive Perspective On Security In The Strait Of Malacca

As one of the world’s busiest and most strategic sea lines of communication, the importance of the Strait of Malacca to the littoral states, international trade and to the regional and global geo-strategic balance is well documented. However, post 9-11, the Strait has suffered from an ‘image problem’ of being unfairly viewed by the international community as a waterway which is vulnerable to major security risks. Perception towards the security situation in the Strait has been especially influenced by belief that the threat of terror in the sealane is imminent, despite the very low probability of terrorist attacks occurring there. The jaundiced assessment, coming from a narrow perspective
blinkered by post 9-11 paranoia which the international media has helped to fan, needs to be corrected as there is a wider dimension to the question of security in this strategic passageway. This paper offers a fresh perspective on the subject by seeking to conduct the discussion on ‘security’ in the Strait in a more holistic manner. It does so by shifting the focus away from ‘traditional’ maritime security concerns, such as piracy, faced by the littoral states of the Strait, and by correcting the gravely erroneous perspective of its vulnerability to terrorist attacks. It advocates a comprehensive approach in securing the sealane by broadening the discussion of its security by looking at aspects such as navigation safety, environmental protection, economic security and territorial integrity,
among others. The paper argues that enlarging the scope of the discourse on security in the Strait will help prioritize efforts and lead to optimal utilization of resources on
practical solutions to tackle security risks in the Strait according to the probability of their occurrence and potential impact. It makes a strong stand against focusing too much on countering the warning of a few pundits of the ‘potential security threat’ like terrorism that carries miniscule likelihood of occurring in the waterway, and in support of taking a more sober and realistic approach to assessing security in the Strait that can lead to practical solutions to more pressing issues such as rising traffic and environmental threat.