Its director-general, Chin Yoon Chin, said the one-stop centre would function as a centre for information and managing disasters at sea, besides monitoring shipping activities.

“If ships passing through the country’s waters are facing an emergency situation, the one-stop centre will be providing the first response.

“The building of the centre is still in the early planning stage. We have discussed the matter with the parties involved and received positive feedback from them.”

He told this to Bernama on the sidelines of the 8th International Conference on the Straits of Malacca themed “Revolving Regional Issues and their Impacts on the Straits of Malacca”, organised by Mima.

Chin said the agencies that would be involved in the one-stop centre would be the Royal Malaysia Police, Customs Department, Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency and Marine Department.

He said the proposed creation of the centre was one of the initiatives to combat crime and piracy in the country’s waters.

“We do not want incidents like the hijacking of MT Orkim Harmony by pirates, which happened last year, to recur and jeopardise our waters.”

The two-day conference from yesterday saw the attendance of over 100 participants from Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, China and Pakistan.

Chin said the conference was the best platform to boost cooperation among the countries concerned, besides enabling the experts to exchange views on maritime issues in the Straits of Malacca.

– BERNAMA