TNAG-2897-FCO40-4171-Hong-Kong-piracy-in-the-South-China-Sea-1993 — Page 83

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CHAPTER 7

SEARCH AND RESCUE

1

In Malaysia, national search and rescue (SAR) is the responsibility of the Marine Department, Ministry of Transport. In peninsular Malaysia, there is one Rescue Co-ordination Centre (RCC) located at Kelang and two Rescue Subcentres (RSC) at Penang and Johor Bahru serving the Malacca Strait. All are manned 24 hours a day. There are no dedicated SAR resources; however units from the Royal Malaysian Navy, Royal Malaysian Air Force, Marine Police, Marine Department and other Government agencies are available for use, as required. There is apparently good co-operation among the Marine Department, Navy, Air Force, etc., to employ the appropriate vessels/aircraft in response to each SAR incident.

2

With regard to piracy and sea robbery, Malaysian officials pointed out the relatively few reported incidents in their waters. Based on this and the availability of coast radio stations, they did not feel it was necessary to make the RCC the focus for reporting incidents (per MSC/Circ.597) since its role would normally be limited to forwarding information to law enforcement agencies for their response.

3 In Singapore, SAR is the responsibility of the Singapore Marine Department. There is one RCC in Singapore which shares a facility with the Aeronautical RCC operated by Singapore Civil Aviation Authority. The two centres work closely together and provide each other with resources as necessary. Singapore RCC is generally only manned during the normal workday. If a SAR incident occurs when not manned, the ARCC will respond and take control until the RCC personnel can be called back. Singapore officials stated the RCC personnel were on call and would normally take no more than 10 minutes to arrive at the Centre and reactivate the RCC.

4 SAR resources in Singapore include: Police Coast Guard and Republic of Singapore Naval vessels, aircraft and salvage tugs, plus vessels of opportunity such as merchant vessels in the area and civil aviation authority aircraft. Singapore officials indicated no resources specifically designated for SAR response.

5

Singapore authorities told the Group that in the past two years there have been no incidents of sea robbery in Singapore waters. However, reports of attacks from passing ships have been received by the Port Operations Centre and by Singapore radio but remain unverified because they took place outside Singapore waters. Given the variety of communication means available in Singapore, including INMARSAT Coast Earth Station and VHF aboard their patrol boats and the small number of incidents reported, Singapore officials feel there is no need to rely on the RCC to be a full time means to receive reports of piracy and sea robbery.

6 In Indonesia, SAR is carried out under the auspices of Basarnas, which is responsible to the Transportation Minister. Basarnas is responsible for providing SAR assistance for aircraft, vessels and personnel in distress. Indonesia has four RCCs and fifteen RSCs. Under RCC Jakarta, RSCs in Medan, Pakanbaru and Tanjing Pinong cover the Malacca Strait and vicinity.

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