Isu perlanunan di selat Melaka dan selat Singapura: ke arah kerjasama serantau dan antarabangsa

The importance of the Straits of Malacca as shipping and international trade routes should not be doubted. It is one of the main factors why it has always been the target of pirate attacks which has worried three neighbouring coastal countries, i.e. Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. The same concern has been voiced out by other countries using the straits such as Japan, China, and the United States since the increase of pirate attacks including the Straits of Singapore in years 1999 and 2000. Among the main factors that have caused this to rise is the effect of the 1997/98 Asia financial crisis where many countries in Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia which has been badly affected economically, which citizens from the said country were identified as the culprits of the pirate attacks. Hence, this paper will analyze the frequency trend of the pirate attacks in the said waters from 1994 to September 2006, and identify the various forms of cooperation that have been and should have been implemented either regionally or internationally in order to address the said issue from continuing