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THE MALACCA sTRAiT

Focus on Asia-Pacific security

MAJ GEN M A HALIM psc (Retd)
AT the Asian security conference in singapore on 06th June 2004 the Us Defense secretary Mr.
Donald Rumsfeld in his speech laid out the new Us strategy in south East Asia i.e. attacking escalating terrorist activities in the region and making a military return to realise its global military strategic adjustment.
Along with the new strategic concept put forward by Rumsfeld, Washington's latest move is the Regional Maritime security initiative, which implies that the Us Navy will send marine corps and special troops to the Malacca strait to curb terrorist activities and crack down on drug smuggling and maritime piracy. since 2000, the United states has begun considering shifting the military strategic focus from Europe to Asia-Pacific region. Although Europe is America's traditional orbit, its troops in the Asia Pacific region have surpassed those in Europe, both in quality and quantity.
The concept of shifting political gravity towards Pacific is not a new one. it is almost in line with what American President Theodore Roosevelt forecasted. "The Mediterranean era", he had said, "died with the discovery of America, the Atlantic era is now at the height of its development and must soon exhaust the resources at its command. The Pacific era destined to be the greatest of all, is just at its dawn".
Before World War ii, America was following a policy of isolation in global politics. However, after the end of World War ii, America started making her presence in global politics in the name of protecting Western democracy and human liberty. America appeared in world politics to stop communist expansion around the world. it established NATO with a view to protecting Europe from communist influence. At the initial stage American power remained concentrated in Europe and Central America but Korean War and French defeat in Dian Bein Phu gave her an opportunity to get herself involved in the affairs of south East Asia. Washington now wanted to resist communist expansion in those areas, so sEATO was organized in 1954 to do so.
At the end of the sixties America realised that her involvement in Vietnam would not bring any positive result to the interest of America. After president Nixon came to power on a platform of disengagement from Vietnam War, America started withdrawing from Vietnam. she also made rapprochement with China, thus reducing its interest in south East Asia. America adopted a policy of strategic retreat, however, after the end of the cold war and with the collapse of soviet Union, America emerged as the only global power. Her aim now is to politically integrate the whole world and act as sole world leader. After the gulf war she took control over the Middle East and after the war in Kosovo over East Europe and through the so-called antiterrorist war in Afghanistan over Central Asia. Having control over Central Asia America will be able to keep up
eastward push to overwhelm Russia and make her presence in the proximity of China. Thus America will be able to contain iraq and iran in the west and two nuclear giants in the south i.e. india and Pakistan.
Now, it is time to turn their eyes in south East Asia. The Malacca strait is of great importance from a strategic point of view. it is shortcut from Pacific Ocean and gate to enter the south China sea. it is one of the busiest waterways with 80,000 ships passing through each year. About one quarter of the goods of international trade is shipped through these waterways. statistic shows that about half of the world's oil is transported through Malacca strait. 90 per cent of Japan's and 80 per cent of Chinese crude oil are shipped via these waterways. it is said he who controls the strait hold the lifeline of East Asia.
During the colonial period, Portugal, Holland, Britain and Japan successfully occupied the region. After World War ii, singapore, Malaysia and indonesia achieved independence and these three littoral countries issued joint communique claming sovereignty over the Malacca strait and their responsibili-
ties for the region's security.
The Us decision to station troops in Malacca strait as terrorism deterrent has aroused strong discontentment of Malaysia and indonesia and also some East Asian countries. Only singapore has supported the American proposal of Regional Maritime security initiative (RMsi). Malaysia, indonesia and Thailand vehemently objected to such moves of Us saying that littoral countries should maintain the security of the strait. The Malaysian government declared it would establish special maritime law enforce- ment body in 2005 to demonstrate that external troops are not needed and that littoral countries are capable of securing the strait. The organization will not only protect marine resources and crackdown on pirates but also shoulder the responsibility of countering terrorist attacks launched at sea. indonesian Navy Chief of staff Bernard Kent sondak proposed that the three littoral countries should organise a patrol task force to secure the strait.
it has been a consistent strategy of littoral countries of the region to maintain neutrality in the region and seek balance among China, United states and Japan. Us move to station troops in
the Malacca strait will surely jeopardise the neutral status of the region and would imbalance regional forces. it will also be contrary to the concept of indian Ocean a zone of peace. such move, if materialised, will seriously affect the peace and stability of the region and might again push the region into political quagmire that prevailed before the end of the Cold War.
The author is a retired military officer