12
speak up!
comment by
B.A. Hamzah
NO ONE predicted that Prime Min-
ister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak’s
simple gesture at the World Oceans
Conference in Manado, Indonesia,
last month would create waves.
By pledging US$1 million (RM3.5
million) to a fund to save corals
in the Coral Triangle, the world’s
centre of marine life, he not only
crested the waves of public opinion,
unknowingly he also inspired those
struggling to save the ocean.
This coral triangle covers 3.4
million square miles of ocean
space stretching from the sea in the
Philippines to Malaysia, Indonesia,
Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste
and Solomon Islands. It is home
to 75% of all known coral species
and more than 3,000 species of fish.
Without these coral reefs, the World
Wildlife Fund for Nature says “the
fish will eventually die” and the
entire ocean ecosystem that some
120 million people in the region
depend on “could collapse”.
Malaysia’s contribution to the
fund is the most fitting gift to the
world that celebrates the “World
Oceans Day” that falls on June 8
each year. The WOD was first pro-
posed by Canada during the Earth
Summit in Rio Janeiro in 1992.
The theme for this year’s WOD
celebration of “one ocean, one cli-
mate, one future” is very apt. It may
sound semantic but contrary to
geopolitical considerations, there is
only one large ocean (not oceans).
The concept of one ocean is similar
to Najib’s 1Malaysia in terms of
policy approach. While the former
treats the ocean as an integrated
global common where everyone
has a stake; the latter emphasises
High cost of ignoring the ocean
total commitment to nation build-
ing that promises a future for the
rakyat regardless of race, colour,
creed and ideological inclination.
For much of history, humanity
has taken the ocean for granted,
polluting the sea and treating its re-
sources as inexhaustible. By push-
ing the natural limits of the ocean’s
carrying capacity for far too long,
the ocean has reached a stressful
level. Large areas are deficient in
oxygen and nutrients as a result of,
among other things, overfishing,
pollution, habitat degradation and
ocean acidification.
Ignoring the importance of the
ocean can be a great mistake. Not
only does the ocean cover more
than 70% of the planet on which
we depend for security, medicines,
food, resources, trade, jobs, and
recreation, it also serves as a vast
highway for commerce, logistics
and communication.
The ocean also helps to miti-
gate global warming. Its currents
circulate the energy and water that
regulate the earth’s climate. The
ocean is the world’s biggest carbon
sink absorbing carbon dioxide
and at the same time it helps with
photosynthesis whereby the phyto-
plankton releases oxygen into the
water. Half of the world’s oxygen
is produced via phytoplankton
photosynthesis.
In short, the ocean plays a critical
role for life on the planet. Human
activities are choking the sea and
destroying the life-support system
TELLING IT AS IT IS
Managing Editor: Chong Cheng Hai
Consultant Editor: Zainon Ahmad
Executive Editor: Lee Boon Siew
Deputy Editor: Patrick Choo (Production),
Editor: R. Nadeswaran (Special Reporting and Investiga-
tion)
critical to their very survival. The
strangulation of the ocean has
crippled its invaluable services
(estimated at a few trillion dollars
annually). Without the ocean, one
scientist laments, “Life as we know
it would cease to exist.”
Many Malaysians take the sea
for granted. Few realise that the
sea is larger than its land mass by
1.4 times and it contributes around
20% of Malaysia’s Gross National
Product. We consume fish that
comes mainly from the sea (10% of
world protein comes from marine
fish); Petronas extracts oil and gas
from the continental shelf (more
than 20% of global supply of oil and
gas is in offshore areas). More than
90% of our export (by volume) goes
by sea and, the sea bridges the pe-
ninsula with Sabah and Sarawak.
More than 60% of Malaysians
live within 30 miles of the coast;
and, almost all the major tourist
centres in Malaysia are by the
seaside.
The military keeps reminding
us that the sea is our first line of
defence. The border is so porous
that we need to remain extra vigi-
lant to stop, for example, illegal im-
migrants, illegal fishing and other
forms of intruders.
The Strait of Malacca, our stra-
tegic lifeline, is not only polluted
(mainly from land sources), it is
also getting very congested (mainly
foreign vessels that use the strait to
bypass the straits of Lombok and
Makassar). According to a 2008
General Manager, Advertising and Marketing: Charles Peters
Senior Manager, Production: Thomas Kang
Senior Manager, Distribution Channels: Joehari Abdul Jabbar
study by the Japan Institute of In-
ternational Transport, the number
of vessels passing through the Strait
of Malacca in 2020 will exceed
113,000 vessels a year; 93,000 in
2007. The sheer number and den-
sity will interfere directly with our
legitimate activities in the strait like
fishing and recreation.
The cost to keep the strait open
and safe will rise to billions of ring-
git. The probability of accidents in
the shallow parts of the strait is high
as traffic density increases. Besides
not all vessels that ply the strait use
the 150 mile Vessels Traffic Sepa-
ration Scheme from One Fathom
Bank, off Port Klang, to Tg Piai, off
Kukup in Johor waters.
The sea poses another security
problem. While likelihood of con-
flicts from overlapping claims in
the Spratlys is low, the nation needs
to be ready to deal with the unex-
pected threats from non-traditional
sources like the 2005 Tsunami that
destroyed Aceh, maritime terrorism
and piracy. Regional mechanisms
to deal with maritime threats from
non-traditional sources need to be
upgraded as a matter of urgency.
Yet despite a strong maritime
heritage, its strategic significance
and substantial economic value,
Malaysia does not have a compre-
hensive national ocean policy. The
need for a single national maritime
governance agency for Malaysia
is both compelling and pressing.
Such an institution can help coor-
dinate more efficiently the diverse
theSun | MONDAY JUNE 8 2009
Sun Media Corporation Sdn Bhd (221220-k)
Lot 6, Jalan 51/217, 46050 Petaling Jaya.
Tel (General): 03-7784 6688
Tel (Editorial): 03-7784 6688 Fax: 03-7785 2624/5
Email: newsdesk@thesundaily.com
Tel (Advertising): 03-7784 8888 Fax: 03-7784 4424
Email: advertise@thesundaily.com
activities that affect the sea. It can
also help optimise the productivity
of ocean resources and services.
It can also help reduce the costly
intra-agency conflicts (13 govern-
ment maritime agencies).
Reorganising the administra-
tion system of the sea can reinforce
Najib’s 1Malaysia programme.
Restructuring the governance
mechanisms will not, in my view,
result in political fallouts as the sea
is politically neutral.
Malaysia should emulate Cana-
da, Australia, Sweden, Norway, the
Netherlands, US, Japan and South
Korea, to name a few countries,
which have special ocean laws and
a single national maritime author-
ity. The time is now for Malaysia
to discard the label of a reluctant
maritime nation. We should in-
stead capitalise on our maritime
attributes and heritage for a more
assertive ocean governance policy.
Living in a global village, inter-
connected and held together by the
sea, the poor state of health of the
ocean must be a common concern.
The challenge is how to make the
sea more productive to reduce
humanity’s vulnerability to climate
change.
The writer is senior research fellow
at the Institute of Ocean and Earth
Sciences and the Faculty of Arts
and Social Sciences, University of
Malaya. Comments: letters@thesun-
daily.com