Malaysia wants the international community to help boost security in the piracy-prone Malacca Strait by providing surveillance aircraft, reports said today.

"We are looking at engaging help from the international community in terms of capacity building, particularly in having 'eyes in the sky'," Deputy Premier Najib Abdul Razak said according to the Star daily.

The maritime surveillance aircraft would be operated by the security forces of nations bordering the troubled waterway, he said, referring to Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.

However, if the international community was willing to assist, "it must not run counter to national sovereignty and territorial integrity of the littoral states."

"The primary responsibility of the security and safety of the Straits of Malacca lies with the littoral states," he said.

After years of resistance to other nations becoming heavily involved in Malacca Strait security, Najib told a regional conference in Singapore last weekend that nations with a big commercial stake in the waterway such as the United States and Japan would be asked to help in "capacity building".

Najib said Malaysia would welcome the support of mobile training teams from the US Pacific Command and nations like Japan could help in information sharing and building a high-tech radar-to-satellite tracking system.

Tracking them down

Malaysian navy chief Ilyas Din said meanwhile that authorities suspected they knew where the pirates' bases were and would cooperate with neighbouring Singapore and Indonesia to track them down.

Ilyas said the northern and southern regions of the Malacca Straits, particularly near Singapore waters, have been identified as possible locations.

"So far, we still need concrete evidence. But we suspect that their bases are located in these two areas based on the frequency of robberies and threats there," he told the Bernama state news agency.

Najib has also suggested that the affected countries work together to detain pirates at their source rather than on the high seas, where they prey on ships plying the strait.

The Malacca Straits is one of the world's most important stretches of water, with 50,000 ships carrying about one-third of the globe's trade passing through it each year.

However the strait, 960 kilometres long and 1.2 kilometres wide at its narrowest point, is notoriously vulnerable to pirate attacks and governments in the region also believe it is tempting for terrorists.