JOINING HANDS FOR SAFER SEAS

Countries must collaborate to meet the maritime security challenges that the world faces today. Minister for Education and Second Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen said this in his keynote address at the opening ceremony of the inaugural International Maritime Security Conference (IMSC) on 13 May at the Singapore Expo.

He added that countries have to work together out of necessity, "simply because such challenges often come suddenly and overwhelm the resources of any one country".

"The multinational counter-piracy efforts in the Gulf of Aden have brought together navies from all parts of the world, and is yet another example where adequate scale can only be achieved through sharing of information and capabilities," said Dr Ng.

The IMSC is a two-day event from 13 to 14 May held in conjunction with the International Maritime Defence Exhibition (IMDEX) Asia 2009 and organised by the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN), S Rajaratnam School of International Studies and Singex Exhibitions.

Dr Ng recognised obstacles that prevent maritime security agencies from cooperating due to differences over interpretations of international law or maritime boundary issues.

"To counter these obstacles to cooperation, a practical and flexible approach within a regional security framework is required to foster confidence-building and capacity-building," said Dr Ng.

Citing the United Nations' Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) as a successful attempt to bring nations closer together, Dr Ng said, "for more than 25 years, the convention has contributed substantially to furthering international maritime peace and cooperative action." The UNCLOS is ratified by more than 140 states and establishes the legal foundations towards the rule of law at sea.

In the Asia-Pacific, groupings such as ASEAN have proved useful in promoting collaboration in the area of maritime security. Through multilateral discussions such as the Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD), stakeholders in ASEAN can come together to discuss ways to make useful contributions to regional security.

These have produced actionable results and benefits to participants and to the international community such as the "Eyes-in-the Sky" (EiS) initiative that involves aircraft from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. This was launched in September 2005, after a proposal at the fourth SLD in June 2005 by Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak - then the defence minister.

Chief of Navy Rear Admiral (RADM) Chew Men Leong reiterated in his opening remarks the importance of cooperative action: "To stay ahead of threats that are essentially transnational in nature, collaboration and co-operative across borders must remain the focus of any maritime security strategy... There is obvious inter-dependency between countries for safe and secure seas."

Most speakers at the IMSC spoke of the importance of cooperation between individual nations' agencies. Group Captain Warrick Paddon, Director Strategic Plans, Border Protection Command (BPC) Australia, said: "With Singapore, we have a strong and productive relationship. In addition to entering into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the RSN, BPC has an officer currently in the RSN's Information Fusion Centre (IFC) participating in a multinational, multi-agency exercise. BPC is also looking carefully at establishing that position at the IFC on a permanent basis."

The IFC hosted the Maritime Information Sharing Exercise (MARISX) from 11 to 15 May with the aim of testing linkages between participating operation centres and to practise the information sharing process among regional navies.

In his closing address on 14 May, RADM Chew repeated the call for cooperation. He said, "While the modalities might be different for different navies, what is clear is that we understand the need to adopt the cooperative approach and no one country or navy or agency can do this task alone. Together, we can help make the difference."

The conference saw participants from more than 30 navies and coast guard agencies. Among the delegates were some 20 navy chiefs and directors-general of coast guard agencies from Australia, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, the United States, among others. The inaugural edition of IMSC has brought together about 500 attendees, a testament to the importance that countries and the international security community place on the issue of maritime security.

The next IMSC is slated to be held in 2011.

13 May 09 - Realising Safe and Secure Seas For All

12 May 09 - Activating the maritime information superhighway

12 May 09 - DPM Teo Chee Hean officiates at the opening of the International Maritime Defence Exhibition (IMDEX) Asia 2009