JAKARTA - Indonesia and Malaysia have rejected a suggestion that US anti-terrorism patrols could be mounted in the Malacca Strait and said only the countries sited along the crucial waterway should protect it.

Visiting Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar and his Indonesian counterpart Hassan Wirayuda aired the rejection in comments to reporters after closed-door talks.

The top US military commander in the Asia-Pacific, Admiral Thomas Fargo, said earlier this month that the US was considering the possibility of deploying forces in the Strait as part of its counterterrorism efforts.

Fargo said he expected a broad range of support.

Right of littoral states

The US should not go ahead with its proposal, Wirayuda said. "It is within the boundaries of our own sovereign rights and jurisdiction to deal with the issue."

Syed Hamid said it was "the right of littoral states to decide the welfare and safety of navigation in the Malacca Strait waters and not for other countries or a foreign power to decide how the safety of (the strait) should be monitored."

But he said neither Malaysia and Indonesia are worried that the US would go it alone. "If they want to do anything in our region, there will be a lot of consultations."

The Malacca Strait, a narrow waterway straddling Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, is notorious for piracy. Security experts warned recently that terrorists could be roaming the waterway to hijack ships.

More than a quarter of the world's trade and oil transits the strait. - AFP