Malaysia rejects US patrols as Rumsfeld hints at terrorist hunt
uploaded 07 Jun 2004KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia on Friday ruled out the deployment of US Marines in the vital Malacca Strait as Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he hoped US forces would be hunting terrorists in Southeast Asia “pretty soon”.
Rumsfeld made the remark as he visited marines and sailors aboard the helicopter carrier USS Essex in neighbouring Singapore, which supports the idea of US involvement in protecting the strait that carries a third of world trade.
In Kuala Lumpur, however, Malaysia’s Defence Minister Najib Razak -- who was to join Rumsfeld later at a major regional security meeting in Singapore --told reporters the country was firmly against foreign intervention as its sovereignty was at stake.
“The entry of the United States is still open for Singapore but for Malaysia, we don’t agree to the entry of a third nation,” he was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency.
The Malacca Strait cuts between peninsular Malaysia and the Indonesian island of Sumatra, with the tiny island of Singapore at the foot of the narrow waterway.
Rumsfeld did not mention the strait specifically in his exchange with the marines in Singapore, but the comment came amid US and Singaporean efforts to improve maritime security, mainly through better intelligence sharing.
About half the world’s oil supplies move through the narrow channel on the way to markets in Japan, China and South Korea, making it a tempting target for Islamic militants seeking to destabilize the industrialized world.
Singapore has consistently led warnings that the Malacca and Singapore straits are extremely vulnerable to terrorist attacks, fearing that terrorists may be planning to hijack vessels for a maritime version of September 11.
But the initiative to increase security aroused controversy after the commander of US forces in the Pacific, Admiral Thomas Fargo, suggested in April that one option under consideration was putting marines and special operations forces aboard high speed vessels in the strait.
Rumsfeld has sought to steer clear of the controversy, telling reporters on the flight here from Washington that Fargo’s testimony to Congress had been “misreported.”
“We’re in the process of trying to unravel all of that. It is in its early stages. They are in a consultation mode. They will be discussing it with various countries in the region,” he said of regional maritime security plans.
At the meeting aboard the USS Essex later, Rumsfeld was asked by a marine: “When are we going to start hunting some terrorists in this theater?”
“Well, I would hope pretty soon,” the secretary replied.
“We simply cannot wait for another attack and expect to defend against it. We have to go out and find those terrorist networks and the people financing them, and countries providing a safe haven for them.”
Malaysia, a moderate Muslim state, supports the fight against Islamic terrorism but frequently criticises the way the US goes about it, objecting particularly to the invasion of Iraq, which it said would simply recruit more members to terrorist ranks.
Source: AFP
