INTERNATIONAL/REGIONAL COOPERATION TO OIL SPILLRESPONSE IN THE STRAITS OF MALACCA :AN OVERVIEW
BY
ROSNANI IBARAHIM 1

INTRODUCTION
1. The Straits of Malacca which stretches for 500 nautical miles is situated between
Peninsular Malaysia and the Island of Sumatra, Indonesia.

The Straits is at its widest in

the northern entrance which is almost 220 nautical miles and at its narrowest point ofbarely 8 nautical miles at the southern end.

2. The Straits of Malacca is recognised world-wide as one of the busiest waterway in theworld.

It is strategically located for movements of vessels to the east and west of theglobe.

On average about 200 vessels of various types ply the route daily.

These include

the very large crude containers of VLCCs, other merchant ships, warships and fishingvessels.

3. With such number of vessels going up and down the straits, it has been very fortunatethat the number of accidents is not high.
reported in the Malacca Straits.

Since 1977 only about 70 marine accidents wereHowever, this is no consolation.

One or a few major

incidents could result in far reaching adverse consequences.

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1Director, Department of Environment Malaysia****************************

4. Of late the Straits of Malacca is facing an increasing threat of serious oil pollution fromships.

Oil is being deliberately discharged or spilled as a result of collision.

A few ofsomewhat major incidents have occurred over the last 20 years in the Straits of Malacca.
In 1976, the incident of Showa Maru and in 1992 the collision of tanker Nagasaki Spirit
resulting in the discharge of approximately 13 000 tons of crude oil into the marine waters
just off the coast of Sumatra and the northern resort island of Malaysia.

In addition there

has been several cases of illegal discharges of oily wastes into the Straits by someirresponsible ships every now and then thus affecting the sensitive coastal system along theStraits.

STRAITS OF MALACCA-INTERNATIONAL/REGIONAL COOPERATION TO OIL SPILL RESPONSE
5. Since as early as 1971 there has bean firm initiatives towards regional cooperation ontechnical matters pertaining to safety of navigation and prevention of pollution in theStraits of Malacca.

This cooperation exists in the form of an official forum consisting ofmembers from the respective technical agencies of Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia.
The forum known as the Tripartite Technical Experts Group (TTEG) was instrumental in
the successful implementation of the Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) in the Straits ofMalacca and Singapore.

The objective of which is to make navigation more safe, As suchminimizing the risk of collision between vessels hence avoiding potential harm to theenvironment.

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6. Further to this, a memorandum of understanding between the Government of Indonesia,
Malaysia and Singapore on the one part and the Malacca Straits Council for and on behalfof the Japanese non - governmental associations on the other part was signed on February
11,1981 for the establishment and operation of a revolving fund to combat oil pollution
from ships in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore.

The quantum of the revolving fund is400,000,000 yen solely contributed by the Japanese non-governmental associations.

Theadministration and operation of the fund is undertaken by an authority appointed by thelittoral states of Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysian on a rotational basis for a period of 5years.

The fund that is operational until today is used for a specific purpose infacilitating immediate clean-up operation in the event of an incident of oil spill caused byship whether accidental or intentional.

In the recent incident of the collision of an oil

tanker Nagasaki Spirit, Malaysia sought an advance sum of US 580,000 dollars from thefund and another US 660,000 dollars by Indonesia to combat oil pollution caused by thesame tanker.

7. A Committee established to manage the revolving fund has also introduced a standard
operating procedure (SOP) for combating oil spill in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore.
A number of joint oil spill exercises have been conducted to test the SOP.

Any experienceduring those exercises were used in the periodic review of the procedure adopted.

8. During the last meeting of the revolving fund committee, it has deliberated that thecommittee would request the Malacca Straits Council to consider making further
contributions to the fund.

This proposal is based on the recent experience that whenadvances were made the principal sum left is indeed small.

If another oil pollution wereto occur during the period which warranted the request for advances, the fund would mostlikely be in sufficient.

9. In another development recognizing the increasing and serious threat posed to themarine environment, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) developed aregional plan known as an Oil Spill Response Action Plan (OSPAR) through the signing ofa memorandum of understanding on 20 May, 1993 for Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, thePhilippines, Singapore, the Kingdom of Thailand and 31 January, 1994 for Malaysia.

10. ASEAN-OSPAR forms a basis of yet another cooperation at the operational level on oil
pollution preparedness and response.

Particular attention is given to the following

matters as stated clearly under Article 4 of this memorandum of understanding:-3

(a)conduct mutual visits by personnel responsible for oil pollution preparedness
and response;(b)

undertake joint exercises and training for oil pollution combating;(c)promote research and development of oil pollution combating measures,
techniques and equipment, and(d)facilitate expeditious transboundary mobility of personnel, materials andequipment in case of emergency.

11. To-date each of the six member ASEAN countries has individually achieved avarying degree of oil spill response capability.

It is hoped that under the cooperation ofASEAN OSPAR, the response capability will be further strengthened to respond to major
oil spills involving a number of countries in the region.

In addition, the ASEAN OSPAR

offers and international mobilization scheme which can be utilised by the oil industry underthe ASEAN Council Petroleum (ASCOPE) Organization.

12. To achieve the long term objective of the ASEAN OSPAR, there has been thoughts
among the member countries to establish regional and sub-regional ASEAN Oil Spill
Response Centres and to continue upgrading the oil spill equipment within the region.

Inthis regard the involvement and support of the industrialised as well as the benefitted
countries would be most welcomed.

13. There exist under the plan a Focal Point Agency, presently being delegated to theIndonesian Environment Impact Management Agency, BAPEDAL who is responsible for theon-going administration of the ASEAN OSPAR.

The focal point however does not havean operational role during an oil spill when the ASEAN OSPAR is activated.

The country

effected by the oil spill will control the operational activities in accordance with their own
National Oil Spill Contingency Plan.

As and when the assistance is required, the affected

country with request through direct contact with the assisting country or countries.

The

assistance provided may come in the form of specialised equipment and or qualified oil
combating personnel.

414. To facilitate further the cooperation among member countries the Plan also details out
among others matters the pollution or oil spill reporting system to be used between thecountries involved.

15. In recent years, recognizing the need of international participation and contribution
towards marine pollution, the government of Japan initiated yet another project through theMinistry of Transport, Japan which was to cooperate with the ASEAN member countries
concerted regional approach to oil spill incidents at the ASEAN sea area.

The project

concerned was to provide equipment stockpile strategically located in all ASEAN member
countries.

This is an effort essentially to supplement each country own capability toresponse to major oil spill incidents involving neighbouring countries.

The project better

known as ASEAN-Oil Spill Preparedness and Response (OSPAR) involves the building upof oil spill equipment capabilities, the total value of which is 1000 million yen.

The

implementation of this project is completed by the establishment of the final equipment
stockpile in Malaysia following the signing of a memorandum of Delivery and acceptanceof Oil Spill Combating Equipment and information Network System in Kuala Lumpur on the11 January, 1995.

The financial backing of the project comes from the Sasakawa

Foundation and the Japanese Shipowners Association of Japan.

16. On 18 March, 1993 the Petroleum Association of Japan (PAJ) annonuced its intention
to set up oil spill response stockpile base outside Japan in an effort to contribute further
towards effective response to possible major oil spill incidents in the Straits of Malacca.
In the event of oil spill, PAJ will lease the equipment stockpiled at the base to responders
concerned upon request.

The stockpile bases are presently located one in Singapore andthe other in Malaysia.

CONCLUSION
17. In order to promote the effective use of all these available equipment's it is of utmost
importance that each country undertakes to administer and maintain the equipment inaccordance to recommended procedures.

Joint exercises from time to time between

countries would be very relevant to strengthen the procedure of oil spill combating using
the available equipment's.

Such exercise would enhance technical knowledge andunderstanding of oil combating personnel and the institutional capability of each country tosupport national and regional oil spill response plan.

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18. International contribution and participation in such exercises would certainly promote
greater cooperative arrangements in the prevention of pollution in the Straits of Malacca.

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