Malaysia has urged insurance companies to remove the Malacca Strait from a list of dangerous waterways as it launched a new coast guard to boost security in the area.

"We hope that the international insurance companies will reconsider their decision to classify the Straits of Malacca as a war zone," Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said today.

"The statistics do not bear that fact. This area is safe from any global terrorism," Najib said at the launch, which came as Malaysia hosts a two-day meeting of regional heads of coast guard agencies.

"All this while the only incidents are sea robbery and piracy. There is no evidence to suggest that the incidents are connected to regional or global terrorism."

Najib, also defence minister, said the number of piracy cases in the vulnerable strait had dropped to one between June to December last year compared to 18 cases in the same period in 2004.

There have been no cases of piracy in the strait this year, he added.

The Lloyd's Market Association's Joint War Committee in July last year added the strait to a list of 20 areas worldwide - alongside Iraq, Lebanon and Nigeria - that it deemed security threats to shipping.

Additional premiums

The classification by the LMA, a body that advises members of insurer Lloyd's of London, could result in some underwriters imposing additional premiums on ships plying the strait.

The launch of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency coast guard unit at Port Klang, Malaysia's biggest port located west of the capital, was marked with canon fire and displays of maneuvering by the unit's vessels.

It was attended by coast guard agencies of 16 Asian countries and the United States and Australia.

Malaysia last November set up the coast guard at an initial cost of RM69 million ringgit (US$19 million) to boost security in the strait, which separates the Indonesian island of Sumatra and Peninsular Malaysia.

Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore have also launched joint military air patrols to counter piracy and terrorism in the strait, one of the world's most important waterways.

It is notoriously vulnerable to pirate attacks and governments in the region believe it could also be a target for extremist groups.