Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines praise ‘zero kidnapping’ anti-piracy naval patrols
- No kidnappings for ransom last year in once-notorious seas, seen as proof of 2017’s Trilateral Cooperation Agreement’s success
- While reduction in attacks is laudable, expert says lack of single command centre and ‘army methods’ to deter maritime threats were a concern
Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines have lauded the success of a 2017 agreement to conduct joint patrols and share intelligence about activities in waters in their region once prone to kidnappings, and pledged to deepen the pact.
The defence ministers of the three countries praised the Trilateral Cooperation Agreement (TCA) after a meeting on the sidelines of the biennial Defence Services Asia trade show in Kuala Lumpur.
The TCA was signed in 2017 amid a spate of piracy attacks and kidnappings by Islamist militants in the Sulu and Sulawesi seas.
As part of the agreement, the three nations also set up maritime command centres – in Tarakan for Indonesia, Tawau for Malaysia and Bongao for the Philippines – to collect information and coordinate patrols.
Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysia’s Defence Minister, said on Monday that the success of the joint patrols was illustrated by the fact there were no kidnapping cases in the waters last year.