Malacca, S’pore straits show what can be achieved if nations work closely for common good: Jeffrey Siow

SINGAPORE – The Malacca and Singapore straits are shining examples of what can be achieved when countries commit to working together for the common good, said Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow.

For more than half a century, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore have worked together to keep these waters safe, even in areas where maritime boundaries remain unresolved.

The three countries have not always agreed, but they have managed to keep their differences from getting in the way of cooperation, added Siow.

That shared interest in keeping the waterways safe, secure and open has benefited not just the three littoral states, but the ships and countries that rely on the straits to move goods around the world, Siow added.

The straits of Malacca and Singapore are among the world’s busiest waterways, carrying nearly a quarter of global seaborne trade.

Siow was speaking at the National Library Building during the launch of a book titled The Straits Of Malacca And Singapore: A Model For The World.

The book was edited by veteran diplomat Professor Tommy Koh, along with three leading maritime scholars.

They are: Dr Nilufer Oral, director of the NUS Centre for International Law (CIL), emeritus NUS law professor Robert Beckman, and senior adviser to the CIL Ocean Law and Policy Programme, and Dr Tara Davenport, the programme’s co-head.

In his speech, Siow said the collaboration was formally sealed in 2007 when the Cooperative Mechanism was set up to provide a platform for littoral states, user states and industry players to help create solutions to improve navigational safety and environmental protection.

Siow said: “The only guarantee that the straits will remain open, safe and secure lies in the will of man, and the work of every generation of leaders.”

The book is written for anyone from lawyers, diplomats and policymakers to seamen and the average Singaporean, and draws from experts in areas like law, diplomacy, policymaking and the maritime sector.

Speaking to The Straits Times on the sidelines of the event, Koh said the book shows that the Malacca and Singapore straits are a model for the world because the three countries bordering the straits not only manage the waterway closely together, but also work with countries that use it.

“We are the only strait in the world which has what is called a cooperative mechanism,” he said.

This is the special feature of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, he said. Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore are confident enough in their sovereignty that they are willing to give major user countries such as China, Japan and South Korea a stake in the waterway.

That stake comes through the Cooperative Mechanism, where user states participate in a forum and voluntarily contribute funds towards navigational aids, surveys and other projects.

“So it’s a win-win,” Koh said.

All three littoral states are members of Asean, and that has also helped sustain cooperation, giving the countries a sense of solidarity, he added.

“Where we have differences of opinion, we talk it out, try to accommodate each other,” Koh said.

Koh, together with former deputy prime minister S. Jayakumar and former High Court judge Chao Hick Tin, led Singapore’s delegation to the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) from 1973 to 1982.

Koh also served as president of the conference in its final two years, and presided over the adoption of UNCLOS, which today remains the anchor for modern maritime legal frameworks.

Beckman said another factor sustaining the cooperation was the shared interest of the three littoral states in keeping the waterway safe.

Foreign ships pass through the territorial waters of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, he added.

Beckman said: “All three states have an interest in ensuring there’s safety of navigation so that there are no collisions, that pollution of the marine environment is minimised, and there are funds in case there’s an oil spill.

“So, in that sense, the three states have a completely common interest, not a divergent interest.”